Doug Oakley never expected to become a living testament to the power of blood donation. But one moment on a motorcycle changed the course of his life forever.
Several years ago, Doug was in a devastating motorcycle accident that his doctors later told him should have been fatal. His injuries were severe, and his survival depended entirely on donated blood.
Doug didn’t know the donors who stepped up that day. But people who took an hour out of an ordinary afternoon were the reason he survived a tragedy that should have taken him from his family.
Once he recovered, Doug felt compelled to give back.
“I organized a blood drive with the Red Cross as a means of paying back for all the blood that I had used after the motorcycle accident,” he said.
What he didn’t expect was that the blood drive would save his life all over again.
During the routine health screening before donating, Doug learned he wasn’t eligible to give blood.
“My hemoglobin was extremely low,” he recalled. “So I was n...