(Host) Bob Young, the former head of Central Vermont Public Service says the annual Gift of Life blood drive that CVPS co-sponsors has taken on a special significance to him.
Young told VPR’s Nina Keck he was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and blood and platelet donations have been critical in helping him fight the disease.
(Keck) Bob Young retired from CVPS last May to spend more time with his wife Vicky, his kids and grandchildren. The 64-year-old says he went to his doctor for his annual physical last month feeling fine.
(Young) "I went in and he said well you seem to be in pretty good shape except that you have a blood count that I don’t like at all. And so it started from there and two days later I discovered that I had Leukemia."
(Keck) Acute Myeloid Leukemia. It’s a cancer that starts inside the bone marrow and affects blood cell creation. Young has spent the last several weeks at Dartmouth Hospital getting chemotherapy. After a bone-marrow scan last week, doctors said the cancer was gone.
Young says that while he’s always thought of the Gift of Life Marathon as a good community event, he now sees the blood drive in a whole new light and wants to encourage even more to donate.
(Young) "I am now a recipient. I would not be feeling as good as I feel – I wouldn’t’ have been able to deal with this thing- had it not been for the fact that there are people in our communities that give blood on a regular basis. I felt that I ought to say – this is important because you never know when you’re going to need it."
(Keck) Young says he’ll have to stay in the hospital a few more days to give his immune system time to recover from the chemo.
So Thursday, on Thanksgiving, Young won’t be home. But surrounded by his family, he’ll be celebrating the holiday – perhaps even more than usual.
For VPR News, I’m Nina Keck.