TRANSCRIPT OF THE MISSION:
The annual “Battle of the Badges” blood drive with the Waco Police and Fire Departments is underway, with each competing head-to-head to reach the donation cap.
According to Carter Blood Care, every pack of blood collected saves three adult and six infant lives.
This was the case with Detective Aaron Whelchel of the Waco Police Department.
“You see very quickly how quickly and as clichéd as it may sound, how life-saving it is when people take the time to go out and donate,” he said.
In July 2015, Whelchel’s life was turned upside down when his then seven-year-old son was hit by a car pulling out of a driveway.
“Literally within 10 or 15 minutes he was as pale as a ghost, then lethargic and no longer awake,” Whelchel said.
His son was hospitalized and had to be treated with the same blood transfusions that are collected during such blood donation drives.
“But when it comes to our personal lives and something happens, and when my son was taken to the emergency room, I look down at him and he looks up at me, he’s crying, and there’s nothing I can do,” Whelchel said.
Thanks to a donation, his son was saved.
“Where would we be if they hadn’t done that? How would my son have recovered without the amazing doctors, the rehab nurses and also the blood transfusions?” Whelchel said.
Since then, the detective has donated blood at every opportunity.
“We can still celebrate all of these milestones, like him starting school, and it’s all because someone else we don’t know did it for us,” Whelchel said.
Further information on times and locations can be found here.
