September 11th

My email inbox fills regularly with requests for donations, and for the most part, the requests are financial. Last week, however, the special donations department at Stanford Blood Center contacted me with a truly special request:

September 11, 2025, Stanford Blood Center, Campbell

Hi Alys,
We are reaching out to you today in the hopes you would be available to donate for a particular patient who has specific transfusion needs and with whom you are compatible. Not only does your ABO/Rh match this patient, but your red cell antigen phenotypes are also a match.

How do you say no to that? I confirmed my eligibility to give (I’m seven months post-hip surgery), and they said yes. I booked the appointment for September 11 and donated my pint in a record five minutes. It also happened to be my 25th blood donation at Stanford.

In 2022, Stanford sent an email confirming that through two separate blood donations,

December, 2022, Stanford Blood Center, Campbell

they were able to verify that the combination of blood groups you have is, in fact, rare and will be particularly essential for supporting patients with your same blood group profile! Though this rare typing program is still in its early stages, we expect to be able to share more with you in the coming months via your online donor portal.

Three years later, I made my first blood donation match.

I’ve thought a lot about the anonymous patient with ongoing transfusion needs, and how remarkable it is for both giver and receiver that we have the technology to pinpoint blood components to this impressive degree.

It’s life-affirming knowing that my whole blood donation will make a difference.

Dahlia ‘Hypnotica’

9/11. Thirteen years ago, it was just another date on the calendar. That changed for the world on September 11, 2001. I’ve struggled all day to find words to share, but they all sound trite.

Many of us wake up on the morning of September 11th and remember those early hours of fear, and disbelief. Though I live in California, the destination of all four planes that crashed that day, I didn’t lose a friend, a family member or a colleague. I was fortunate.

But we all felt the collective sadness and fear that swept through this nation in those early days and weeks.

Today is a day of service and remembrance. I’ve tried to come up with something meaningful, but didn’t do an adequate job planning for the day. If I had, I would have picked a day of service activity. I’ll do better next year. Today I planted a bright yellow ‘Hypnotica’ Dahlia as a remembrance. We’re a collective planet warmed by the yellow sun. These warm yellow flowers give me hope while honoring lives lost. I placed the Dahlia curbside in a muted green pot for passersby to enjoy.

I donated to the American Red Cross fund in lieu of service. The:

“American Red Cross exists to provide compassionate care to those in need. Our network of generous donors, volunteers and employees share a mission of preventing and relieving suffering, here at home and around the world, through five key service areas: disaster relief, supporting military families, lifesaving blood, health and safety services and international humanity services.”

9/11 Remembrance

I’m also planning a random act of anonymous kindness before the day ends. People often joke about this, but I believe in my heart of hearts that if we all practiced individual acts of kindness, it would go far in improving all our lives.

Sending love and hope back out to the universe.