A Pint For Kim
This is what was written on the first page of Kim’s journal that she kept beside her bed. Anyone who knew Kim will not be surprised to read this as Kim was constantly putting others before herself.
Through her eight year journey with cancer, Kim never spoke the words, “why me?”. Instead, Kim often said about she felt there was a great purpose to what she was going through. On days she did not have the strength to go to treatment, she would come home and say how she met someone getting their first round of chemotherapy, and so she was meant to be there to provide support to that person. When she traveled to hospitals out-of-state only to hear that the doctors did not have any additional options for her, she would come home and talk about all the wonderful people she befriended on the trip who she was now sending messages of encouragement to daily. And so when Kim began to need daily blood transfusions, it was only natural that she would immediately think of paying it forward by asking others to donate blood.
A Pint for Kim was formed in January 2020 when Kim and her family learned a life-changing fact: the primary use of donated blood goes to cancer patients. They, like many people, had associated blood transfusions with accidents or surgeries but were not aware that the primary use of donated blood is for individuals going through cancer treatments. Without blood transfusions, these patients would not be able to continue their battles as many cancer treatments induce severe anemia.
The A Pint for Kim movement began as a hashtag, asking people to donate blood and post photos with #apintforkim to show to Kim while she was in the hospital. However, it wasn’t long before Kim’s family began planning a blood drive. As soon as they posted a link for people to sign up to donate blood, all 50 spots were filled within hours. The average blood drive only has 22 donors, so seeing this brought Kim a great deal of joy. A few days later, after Versiti Blood Center was able to arrange for more staff for the blood drive, they posted another 50 donation spots. And once again, they filled up within hours. This happened over and over, with nearly 400 donors signing up in advance of the March 8 blood drive. Each time Kim would learn about the number of people who had signed up, she would say the same thing, “I am so proud of you all”.
Kim looked forward to attending the blood drive to thank everyone for their selflessness, but unfortunately she passed away five days before the event. One of her final wishes was to not have a funeral or wake but instead to let the blood drive be a celebration of the life saving power of blood donation. A testament to Kim’s humble nature, she even suggested that her family remove her name from the title of the blood drive as she didn’t want the focus to be on herself; she wanted the focus to be on all of the people in need of blood products who would benefit from the event.
On March 8, 2020 over 500 people showed up to donate blood in Kim’s name, the line to donate going out the door and around the building, with hundreds of more in attendance to show their love and support. The event set the single-day single-location record for largest blood drive in Illinois beginning what is now a year-round movement to spread awareness and inspire blood donations.
