Christmas has come and gone. The festive packages that once sat beneath the twinkling tree have all been opened. We’ve given wonderful gifts to family and friends, but local resident Melody Amonson has without doubt given the best gift of all…and to complete strangers. It didn’t come from a store or through the mail. It didn’t even come in shiny wrapping paper with a pretty bow. Instead, it came from a desire to help others. She literally gave them the gift of life by donating blood, platelets, and now plasma with Coronavirus antibodies.
Amonson’s journey to donating began back when she was only an infant in 1958. That’s when her eight-year-old brother, Harlen, was battling Hodgekins lymphoma. Treatment for the disease was relatively unknown so his parents decided to take him to Rochester. The doctors there said he needed a blood transfusion, but there was one problem – he had the rarest form of blood, AB-. As a result, family and friends were asked to donate blood for the procedure. They did, but sadly, Harlen still passed away that same year. Melody never got the chance to know him, but this experience would one day inspire her to be a 13-gallon blood donor as well as able to save lives with plasma donations during a world-wide pandemic. But it did.
Nearly 50 years later, in 2007, she was contacted by Lois Barnes to donate blood at a local drive.
“Lois is a saint because of her work in organizing many, many local blood drives at the United Church of Christ,” said Amonson. “
