Canes hope to draw blood with Rebels
The Lethbridge Hurricanes and Red Deer Rebels will be spending the entire month competing — this time, however, it’s off the ice.
Blood will be drawn, but there’s no major penalty or game misconduct, just bragging rights for the winning team for this year’s Give Life Blood Donor challenge.
Representatives from the Hurricanes, along with representatives from the Lethbridge Minor Hockey Association and Rock 106.7, rolled up their sleeves at Canadian Blood Services Lethbridge on Wednesday to show their rivals they mean business.
Dustin Forbes, the team’s broadcast and communications manager, said they are proud to be a community-owned team and strive to make an impact.
“If we can be a part of something that’s as important as this, we obviously want to jump on board with it," said Forbes.
“It’s year six for this partnership. Everybody at Canadian Blood Services, they do most of work the for us, we’re just able to be a part of it and encourage people,” Forbes said. “We have such a vast ability to reach a lot of people.”
The Hurricanes have held onto the bragging rights for the past couple of years of the campaign, each time bringing in around 400 blood donations.
There’s over 5,000 seats in the Enmax Centre and fans have filled the seats many times before, but now the Canes are asking them to try a different chair and book an appointment at Canadian Blood Services in January.
“Donating blood is such an important thing, not only for people in our community, but also our country,” said Forbes.
Abby Slovack is just one of many regular blood donors.
“You never know when someone is going to need blood, you think it’s just a good thing to do,” she said.
She never thought someone in her family would need blood, but last March, her four-year-old daughter, Maryn, was rushed to the emergency room.
“Her hemoglobin level was extremely low and she was rushed off to the Alberta Children’s Hospital.”
“She did a transfusion as soon as we got there,” Slovack explained as she fought back tears.
After a series of tests, another transfusion and an exploratory surgery, doctors were finally able to find the cause and she has “since made a full recovery.”
Without blood donors, that may not have been possible.
“It takes an hour of your time and it really does help save people’s lives,” Slovack said.
There are more than 800 open appointments that need to be filled for January in order to keep up with demand.
To book an appointment, download the GiveBlood app or visit www.blood.ca.
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