After his twin brother Calder Wills died from cancer, Grayson Wills made it his goal to donate more blood than the 40 units his brother received throughout treatment.
Grayson Wills, now a 17-year-old senior at Iowa City City High School, is the latest University of Iowa DeGowin Blood Center Gallon Grad after donating blood eight times since the end of the summer.
Calder Wills was diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoma in 2016 when he was 11 years old. Because he was so young when his brother received his diagnosis, Grayson Wills said he had no clue what it really meant.
“He was my best friend. We were super close,” he said. “It was that twin bond that most people don’t have.”
Calder Wills died in 2017 after 19 months of cancer treatment, and Nov. 4 will mark the fifth anniversary of his death.
Grayson Wills said he wants to take the family’s tragedy and turn it toward helping others heal.
“There’s no way that I would have been willing to get poked with a needle without going through the experience with my brother,” he said. “But we all experience trauma, we all experience unexpected moments in our life, and that’s why blood donation is so important.”
The Gallon Grad Program honors local high school students who donate blood eight times before their high school graduation. It takes about 45 minutes to donate blood at the center, according to its website. The donors are presented with a certificate of achievement and a red cord at their school’s senior award night.
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