Valley College Specialist Receives Blood Donation from Fellow SBVC Instructor

San Bernardino Valley College Tech Division Tool Room Specialist Jerry Donnelly received the gift of blood from a friend and fellow SBVC faculty member after Donnelly lost control of his Harley Davidson motorcycle, trying to avoid hitting an animal, on his commute to his Moreno Valley home on Sept. 11. Donnelly made a 911 call on his cell phone and was transported to Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where doctors found he had broken both his legs, his pelvis and his right arm, shoulder and shoulder blade. During emergency surgeries, he received 24 units of blood. Donnelly was able to recover enough to be released to the care of his wife, Michelle, a Registered Nurse with a masters degree in nursing and who has worked for 25 years at the Riverside County Regional Medical Center. Donnelly celebrated his 56th birthday at home with friends and family on Oct. 18. On Nov. 9, Donnelly was rushed back to the hospital, where he was admitted into Intensive Care with internal bleeding. Donnelly needed six additional units of blood, and Grand Terrace resident Pete Petersen, a faculty member with SBVC's automotive department's tech division, gave his second blood donation to Donnelly, and 90th donation overall. Donnelly has received 30 units of blood to date. LifeStream, a blood donation agency, explains that 37 percent of the nation's population is eligible to donate blood: donors must be at least 15 years old (15- and 16-year-olds require written parental consent to donate), and donors must be at least 110 pounds. Healthy adult donors may give blood every eight weeks, with plasma being donated as often as once a month, according to the LifeStream website. An adult of average weight has anywhere between 12 to 14 pints of blood, while a 110-pound teenager has around seven pints of blood. For those who wish to donate replacement blood to Donnelly, his code at the LifeStream Blood Bank, 384 W. Orange Show Road in San Bernardino, is REPLDONG. Call the blood bank at 909-885-6503 for more information.