Commit for Life Blog

Have you submitted your story in our Continue the Commitment promotion yet? Every two weeks, one story will be chosen to be featured here in the Commit for Life Blog, and its author will receive 500 Commit for Life store points. Participants may also be recruited to participate in our Commit for Life campaign photo shoot and be featured in our calendar, awareness ads, brochures and more – just like these individuals who shared their stories in 2011.

Our first story comes from Debra Prestifilippo, who began donating in 2006 when her daughter’s cross-country teammate was diagnosed with leukemia. Mother and daughter donated together, and now Prestifilippo continues her commitment by making blood donation a social activity.

“I belong to a group of women we call The Blood Sisters. Most of us are moms who know each other through our sons’ baseball team, but several of us have included other friends as well,” Debra says. ”Every eight weeks we make our appointments for around 5 p.m. When we are all finished donating, we go out to dinner. The dinner part makes it fun so we will continue to donate every time we are eligible. We average about six women each time.”

We think getting friends involved is a great way to make donating blood fun while saving more lives. Thank you, Debra, for sharing this great idea, and for all you do to help patients in our region. The Continue the Commitment promotion continues through March 31. If you have a story about what Commit for Life means to you, we would love to hear it!

Over the past few years, North Forest High School has become one of Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center’s superstar groups. Since Forest Brook and Smiley High Schools (the two schools that merged to form North Forest High School) worked together to hold a joint blood drive in 2007, the students have embraced The Power of Life high school blood drive program, saving thousands of lives.

Their tradition of helping others continues in 2012, as the campus hosted a drive Jan. 13 that brought in 86 products – higher than their previous average! The school is hoping to host two more drives during the spring semester so students can make the most of their opportunities to save lives.

The blood drive program at North Forest has not only provided an opportunity for the students to give back to their community, but has also served to reinforce the importance of proper nutrition. After a high number of students were being repeatedly deferred from donating due to low iron, North Forest began to educate its students on nutrition, even creating a vegetable garden in 2010 for the 4-H students to cultivate. The school also hosted cooking demonstrations using some of the ingredients grown in the garden, encouraging students to eat healthier and boost their iron.

On behalf of the patients who have benefited from all of these efforts, thanks to North Forest High School for a great partnership!

While donating his 100th gallon, Speight chats with his mother, Ceole Speight, who was recently a blood recipient herself during open heart surgery.

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, 61-year-old Montgomery resident Glenn Speight became the 23rd blood donor in the Texas Gulf Coast region to reach the 100-gallon donation mark. Speight has been donating for more than 30 years and on Tuesday, made his 800th donation.

“I first donated with my dad because a friend of his needed blood,” Speight said. “The donor center staff asked me to come back – before that I’d never thought of donating blood as a regular thing. I’ve seen firsthand how blood donations help save lives, and I’ve just made a habit of donating.”

In his 30-plus years of donating, Speight has helped save countless lives in our community, and he’s now part of three generations of giving, as his own son is a blood donor too. Speight usually donates platelets– a blood component that is often used to help cancer patients. Because the body produces platelets faster than other blood components, they can be given frequently – every seven days up to 24 times a year – which allowed Speight to accrue an incredible record of giving.

Last year, Speight, an Operations Manager at CenterPoint Energy, made it his goal to reach the 100-gallon donation mark before either he – or his longtime boss – retired. CenterPoint Energy is a big supporter of saving lives through blood donations, hosting nearly 200 blood drives with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center every year. When Speight made his 100-gallon donation, friends, family, co-workers, Blood Center staff, and his boss all gathered at the Bill T. Teague Neighborhood Donor Center to help celebrate.

The Blood Center and Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office team up to honor the memory of Deputy John D. Norsworthy. Pictured: Sheriff Milton Wright, Director of Donor Recruitment Theresa Pina, Melissa Norsworthy, Chief Deputy Craig Brady and Donor Recruitment Coordinator Brenda DeFrayne

Late last December, after Christmas and the end of the typical holiday giving season, blood donors in our community stepped up to give back in a big way.

The catalyst was an auto accident that injured Deputy John D. Norsworthy of the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. Norsworthy needed blood immediately, and individuals all over Fort Bend County and beyond responded to the call for donations.

During his hospitalization, Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center received more than 660 blood donations in his name from individuals wanting to help. As a result, blood was not only available for doctors trying to save the deputy’s life, but for countless other patients throughout the Texas Gulf Coast region. Tragically, Deputy Norsworthy succumbed to his injuries on Jan. 4, 2011.

This Dec. 27, the one-year anniversary of his accident, the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office will host its first-ever Deputy John D. Norsworthy Memorial Blood Drive to honor the memory of the deputy. The group hopes to make it an annual event.

“Helping other people was what my husband was all about,” Melissa Norsworthy, his wife of 19 years, said. “If we can take that day and turn it into something good, I think that’s what he would want to do.”

The Deputy John D. Norsworthy Memorial Blood Drive will be held:
Tuesday, Dec. 27 – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office – Grand Hall
1410 Williams Way
Richmond, Texas 77469

Schedule your donation online or call 1(888) 482-5663. The sponsor code for the drive is 5642.