# @americanredcross on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DGwGJovz9ng
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/72588907-americanredcross-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/eb699edaaf.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-03-03T21:00:24.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** American Red Cross (@americanredcross) — https://gondola.cc/americanredcross

## Caption

Pastor Frank Riley has seen the true power of a blood donation — not in a lab or a hospital, but on the front lines. During his 18 years in the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, he deployed around the world, but one moment in Ghanzi, Afghanistan, forever changed the way he viewed giving blood.

“A terribly wounded service member was coming in and there was a need for blood,” Frank said. “Throughout the operating base, the call went out over loudspeakers and everywhere for people with a certain type of blood. I watched as people ran from different parts of the base to get there. It was desperate. It was urgent.”

The first time Frank donated blood himself was in 2008 at a blood drive hosted by the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Through that donation, discovered he has a rare blood type that can be used to help babies and immunocompromised patients. He’s part of a small group of adults with blood that doesn’t contain cytomegalovirus (CMV), which can be fatal for infants and people with weakened immune systems.

“I donated for the first time because I heard of a blood shortage at the children’s hospital,” Frank said. “I didn’t know about my blood type before. When I got my donation card back, they said, ‘You’re CMV negative,’ and that means my blood can help premature babies and kids who are fighting cancer."

Now, wherever life takes him, Frank continues to donate blood. As a pastor at his community church in Minnesota, he makes time to give at Red Cross blood drives hosted at the church.

“As I give blood, I realize that I’m giving blood to people that I love in my community and people I haven’t met yet,” Frank said. “It could be that today my blood is needed for somebody that I desperately care about. As a Christian, there’s a reminder for me that centuries ago someone gave His blood for me. Keeping with my own Christian faith, I too have the ability to give blood for others. It doesn’t have the same impact, yet it is lifesaving.”

We’re grateful for the lifesaving impact that blood donors like Frank make across the country each and every day. ❤️

#DonateBlood #GiveBlood #BloodDonor #DonateBloodSaveLives #GiveBloodSaveLives #CMVNegative

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## Credits

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## Tags

giveblood, donateblood, cmvnegative, donatebloodsavelives, givebloodsavelives, blooddonor

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