His zest to save lives motivated Polireddy Uma Maheswara Rao to donate blood as many as 83 times. The 57-year-old from Guntur is a businessman and a yoga teacher.
“When I was in my mid-twenties, my relative got seriously ill and required surgery. Some 40 years ago, awareness on blood donation is not as much as today. It was very difficult to get blood or find donors for blood. It was the first time I donated blood and when she was saved, I realised what I had to do,’’ Uma Maheswara Rao recalls.
Till then, “I did not realise how much we can contribute to saving a person’s life. So I made it a habit to donate blood regularly,” he says. After a while he got married and his wife strictly prohibited him from donating blood anymore, worrying it might affect his health. But seeing that people came forward to donate blood and to save lives inspired by Rao, made her change her decision. Later, she also accompanied her husband for conducting blood donation camps, especially in rural areas.
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