Claribel, in favor of health and feelings

Claribel Padrón Sánchez has been a blood donor since the 1990s in her native province of Ciego de Avila. Although she is already 61, she hopes to reach the age of 65 enjoying as much good health as she has so far to keep helping those who need O-positive blood transfusions.

She does not like to say how many times she has stretched out her arm to offer the cells and elements of her body fluid, because her sole goal is to save lives, and that should be enough.

The generosity of this woman, who graduated in Preschool Education in 1986 and holds a master's degree in Educational Sciences since 2009, translates into 108 donations for patients with cancer or hematological problems or people who suffer accidents or undergo surgery.

She recalls her first time she volunteered, when the Blood Bank staff set up a donation station at a rural school. Since then, she has donated three or four times a year.

Claribel holds many anecdotes about her altruistic actions, but one marked her forever, when she gave arm-to-arm blood to a two-year-old child and thus saved his life.

“It was eight years ago, but his mother often calls me to tell me that everything is going well with the child, who reminds her to keep in touch with me,” she points out, as tears well up in her eyes. “I will be eternally grateful for that, because a little bit of me circulates through his body, so I am somehow present in him.

"When someone comes to me because they need a blood transfusion but mine doesn't match, I immediately call a fellow donor and solve the problem. You have to experience this humane work to really know how good it feels to be useful. The Blood Bank people have already told me that I can keep donating as long as my body is strong enough, but because of my age, I do it twice a year now,” Claribel explains.

Donating blood is a worthy altruistic, supportive and humanistic act, since each donation saves three lives without endangering the donor’s. That is what encourages this recently retired woman.

“Blood is vital, it cannot be manufactured or stored indefinitely because it expires. Each donation provides red blood cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate, which is given to ICU patients and women with severe complications in their late pregnancy,” she remarks.

Barring any complication, this woman will keep extending her arm until she turns 65 to also bring tears to the eyes of other families, such as that of the child she saved.