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Elsa Finkbonner's
You may not remember me, but a good portion of you will remember my son, Jake Finkbonner. On February 11, 2005, at age five, he was playing basketball when he was pushed from behind, flew forward, and hit his mouth on the base of the basketball hoop. His tooth pierced his lip and he was instantly infected with Strep A, also known as flesh eating bacteria. He was airlifted from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham to Seattle Children’s. His condition was so critical the doctors were unsure as to what they were dealing with. Jake’s head had swollen twice its size, he was unrecognizable and his eyes were swollen shut. On Valentine’s Day they took Jake into the operating room for his first surgery: more than 20 would follow in the next 18 days. During his surgeries Jake lost a lot of blood. It is estimated that he received up to 100 units of donated blood during his operations. I don’t know what a unit of blood looks like, but I do know that to look into my sons beautiful little eyes every day, that is what a unit of blood looks like in a life. So far, Jake has undergone 25 surgeries in all. He’s just 9 years old and his journey has just begun. At the time I didn’t realize the importance of blood drives. The next time that you are donating blood, remember what your donations mean to people like us. It means the gift of life. |
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“Without donated blood,
we would not have our son here
with us today.”