Demetria Castanias: A Sweet Sixteen Saving Lives

Demetria Castanias turned sixteen on Thursday, July 1, 2010. To mark this significant event in her young life she scheduled her very first blood donation at Hoxworth Blood Center. When asked why she scheduled the donation Demetria explained, “I want to celebrate my life by helping to save others."

Demetria has seen firsthand the life saving benefits of blood donation when her grandfather, Charles Koch (of Greenfield, Ohio) received transfusions following surgery and treatment of bladder cancer in 2008. Demetria, soon to be a sophomore at Mason High School said, “I hope that my friends and classmates will follow suit and become blood donors when they are old enough."

Demetria’s donation took place at Hoxworth Blood Center, 3130 Highland Avenue at 10a.m. on July 1, 2010.

Karen: Making Waves & Friends

Dear Hoxworth,

I recently bought a kayak with Hoxworth and their Tri-County Neighborhood Donor Center playing an interesting part of the process. I located a seller online through the cincypaddlers@yahoo.com website. However, due to jobs, school and our busy schedules we were finding it difficult to get together to see if this was the right boat for me.

We began emailing back and forth and comparing who was doing
our donors what when, and how we could meet. I was surprised when I presented an idea that I was going to be donating platelets on Tuesday evening and the response cam back, "Great! I'll donate too and bring the kayak!"

So, we (literally) "met" at the Tri-County donor center, made our donations, and the kayak was delivered to my home that same evening.

It turned out the the seller's school was having a blood drive so I asked that my donation be credited to that organization. How's that for a "win-win."

My new buddy is Alex. I bought his mom's kayak that evening. Alex is studying nursing at Good Sam School of Nursing. The students have a (competition) blood drive and I asked that my donation be credited to Alex's organization.

-Karen