The American Red Cross reports Black blood donors play a critical role in helping people with sickle cell disease, yet very few donate.
Most people know Jarrod Benton as their coach and voice of encouragement. He is a cycling instructor at Life Time in Charlotte. But when he is not at the gym, Benton helps others in a much bigger way. Every few months, he donates blood. He is type O-negative which is a universal blood type. Most people can receive his blood.
“Donating makes me happy,” Benton says. “It is satisfying to me knowing that I am giving something to somebody to assist them in living or save their lives. At the end of the day that is all that matters.”
Benton is one of 3% of people in the Black community who donate blood. He believes this is because some of his peers don’t see who it directly helps.
“There is a fear and hesitancy,” Benton says. “They feel my blood might not be good enough or they might be afraid of needles.”
But he says there are people anxiously waiting on the other side. Quiana Banks is one of those patients. She has sickle cell disease and needs blood exchanges every month.
“My red blood cells lack oxygen and iron and don’t supply those things to our body,” Banks says. “They pull out bad blood from me and push in the good blood, the donated blood.”
Without the blood exchange she could experience organ damage, severe pain and even death.
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