Hampstead blood drive shows importance of donations

A special blood drive took place in Hampstead on Tuesday.

It’s been organized every year for 17 years now by a local family looking to give back, after tragedy almost struck.

“I started this blood drive in honour of my son, who was born as a micro preemie,” said Michael Goldwax.

Goldwax’s son Brandon was born at 25 weeks, weighing only 1.5 lbs.

“My wedding ring went up his whole leg,” Goldwax says. “He was 11 inches, the head of the size of a lemon and I did everything in my power to make sure he survived.”

Brandon only had a five per cent chance of surviving and needed an urgent blood transfusion.

For the first three weeks of his baby’s life, Goldwax donated blood to his son every 72 hours.

Twenty-seven years later, Brandon is a healthy and thriving software engineer and he too, is giving back.

“It’s something that I love doing and I know I wouldn’t be here without my dad, so I want to provide people with the same opportunity,” Brandon said.

Brandon has been donating his blood for nine years.

“I almost call it the circle of life because here he is,” Goldwax said teary-eyed, thinking about the early days of his son’s life.

Brandon’s very first time donating was when he turned 18.

He received a surprise visit from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) doctor who saved his life, the Jewish General Hospital’s top neonatologist, Dr. Apostolos Papageorgiou.

“Dr. Papageorgiou came from behind and hugged my son and told me that he would never miss this day so, it was very emotional,” Goldwax said.

Ever since, Goldwax has organized Hampstead’s blood drive every year.

It has become a family affair, Brandon enlisting his mom and sister too.

“Yeah, she’s fainted quite a few times, but every single year she donates,” he said of his sister.

Héma-Québec appreciates those efforts.

The organization needs 1,000 donations every day just to keep up with demand in Quebec hospitals.

“Every donation does save three lives,” said Josée Larivée a spokesperson for Héma-Québec.

It is exactly what keeps the Goldwax family going.

“The purpose then was to save my son’s life, the purpose now is to save as many lives as we can,” Goldwax said.

Héma-Québec says summer time is always challenging: donations go down as Quebecers travel.

Larivée encourages people to donate blood or plasma at some of their various blood drives across the city.

The GLOBULE Blood Donor Centre in Kirkland receives donors every day. People can check blood drives in a location near them on Héma-Québec’s website.

Upcoming drives include:

• Galeries des Sources, Dollard-Des-Ormeaux  on August 31st and Sept 1st
• Pincourt Mazda on September 5th
• Hôtel Plaza MOCO Salaberry de Valleyfield on September 5th and 6th
• The centre communautaire de Saint-Lazare on September 6th
• Spinelli Toyota in Lachine on September 7th