Aaron Warner first donated blood as a teenager, following his mother’s good example. “My inspiration was my mom. She took me to donate blood a couple of times with her, and she never flinched—she was tough!” he says. “It engrained the thought that you just do it.”

Later, when his stepmother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer and received platelet transfusions, Aaron and his father began donating platelets in her name. One day, some time later, Aaron received a call from Versiti saying that he was an exact match to a cancer patient who needed a special platelet transfusion—and it wouldn’t be the last time he received such a request.

“What do you say to that?” he says. “I’m proud to say that every time they asked, I went in.” After a while, Aaron stopped receiving calls about donating matched platelets, and asked Versiti what that meant. He was told that the patients who received his platelets had likely passed away, but he hopes he was able to help them spend more time with their loved ones.

“Did they get one more wish-list thing done? Did they have one more holiday because they got platelets?” he asks.

In his career as a high school science teacher, Aaron is passionate about encouraging the next generation of blood donors. Over the years, his students have donated gallons. “I encourage my students to donate, because few people their age do,” he says. “The first student I encouraged to start donating blood graduated last year and has donated 1 gallon.”

Over the years, Aaron has donated more than 22 gallons and usually tries to give double platelets. “You never know when it’s going to be your loved one who needs blood,” he says. “I am perfect at nothing, but I do have perfectly good blood. So, why not help others?”

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.