Blood donation has always been a part of Jackie Kaczynski’s life. She grew up with parents who, despite being busy farmers, always found time to donate blood and often brought Jackie along. “I have many childhood memories of tagging along to the local school blood drive,” she says. “In high school, I remember being excited to be old enough to donate. My parents had set a good example and inspired me to want to help others.”

What Jackie could never know was that, years later, she’d be on the receiving end of these lifesaving gifts. In 2014, at 39 years old, she began experiencing fatigue, shortness of breath and low blood pressure, figuring her iron levels were low. Soon after, she received the life-changing news that she had leukemia. “You never think this could happen to you,” she says. “When the doctor told me it was cancer, I was completely blindsided.”

Within days of her diagnosis, Jackie was hospitalized and began receiving blood and platelet transfusions to maintain her strength as she endured grueling chemotherapy. And on August 26, 2014, she received a lifesaving bone marrow transplant from her brother that put her into remission.

“I’m alive today because of blood donations, my brother’s bone marrow donation and my faith in God,” she says. “I’m so blessed and grateful for those that give of themselves.”

People need people, make a difference in someone’s life by donating blood.

We must rely on each other for the gift of blood, and patients in your community rely on the generosity of Versiti’s blood donors to help. Please consider scheduling an appointment to donate. If this is your first time, donating blood is quick, easy and relatively painless. And, it is a great way to give back and help patients in your community.