Dayna Brons’ mother carries on daughter’s legacy through blood donation
SASKATOON – Before she died from injuries sustained in the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash, Dayna Brons gave her hair, her blood and her time.
Brons — the Broncos’ athletic therapist, and the only woman to die in the April 6, 2018 collision that claimed 16 lives — was a donor, in many ways. Last June her mother Carol, thinking about her daughter the whole time, made her own first blood donation.
“I do it in her memory,” Carol said Tuesday. “She would have continued on donating, and I feel like I’m stepping in for her.”
Dayna gave blood approximately 10 times, and donated her hair after cuts. She planned to give more blood that spring. Instead, she received several transfusions in the five days she lived after the collision.
Her father, Lyle, can’t donate because of health reasons, but Carol has done so three times. The last one brought a surprise: The current Broncos’ hockey team lent their support by arriving on masse as she prepared to quietly donate.
“I’m kind of used to being a bit in the spotlight,” says Carol, who was thrust there after the crash, “but that was a little bit more than I was expecting — sitting in a chair, and all of a sudden, 15 young men come in. They were really good. It was interesting.”
More interesting things will happen Wednesday night at the Saskatoon Blades’ game: Carol will shoot between periods for a chance at a $1,000 donation from Canada Life to Canadian Blood Services in Dayna’s honour. Canada Life will also donate $100,000 to CBS’s NextGen Lifeline program. She’s practised a bit, Carol says, “but with the amount of snow in the yard, it’s kind of hard to do.”
She laughed.
“They keep saying ‘No pressure … but have you been practising?’ So we’ll see. Hopefully it’ll at least get down to the net.”
Carol and Lyle support Hockey Gives Blood, an organization started up after the Broncos’ crash. It’s partnered with Canadian Blood Services, and works to engage and educate the hockey community about blood and stem cell donation.