Donald Ellett’s granddaughter, Aurora, was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma when she was only 4 years old. “She just lit up a room,” Donald said. “She was named after the aurora borealis.” While he was already a blood donor, Donald started donating platelets after seeing how Aurora needed them to support her cancer treatments. “Once Aurora was diagnosed, I said, ‘It is what I am going to do. And maybe it will help somebody.’ It buys people time, gives people back their strength after chemotherapy.” For the last two years of Aurora’s life, she received a unit of platelets almost weekly. Platelet transfusions gave Aurora more years with her family, which included a trip to visit Alaska so she could see the famous northern lights for which she was named after. Aurora sadly passed away in December, but her memory lives on in Donald’s motivation to continue donating platelets. “I do it because I know what families are going through,” he said. “For me, it is not a bad sacrifice, ...