John's sister Marie joined us, bringing fudge (pralines & chocolate and peanut butter this time) as well as commemorative fridge magnets and key chains. After our donations, we sat in the canteen and told donors who didn't know about John how we all started to coordinate our appointments to be there when he was so we could enjoy the fudge. We shared the origins of Fudge Man Day as well as the tale of the blood center employee who learned the hard way about the perils of eating excessive amounts of sugar-free fudge. (I'll just say that it acts as a laxative and leave the rest to your imagination.)
The Donors List that honors folks who have made 75 or more lifetime platelet donations and hangs on the wall is updated each fall. The list is quite impressive and it was one of John's goals to get on it, which he did.
However, the policy is that if a person is inactive for more than two years (because people move away, become medically ineligible or, alas, pass away), their names are removed from the list. When this year's update was unveiled at the annual Donors Dinner, I noticed that John's name was not there. I pointed this out to Deb, our appointments coordinator, as well as to fellow donors Steve and Tom. Deb suggested we speak to Harvey, the director of the program, and promptly brought us over to meet him.
It took a bit of persuading -- okay, Steve told Harvey that all three of us would stop donating and take our platelets elsewhere -- but Harvey agreed to get John's name back on the board. And so it is... and will be for years to come.
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