I first learned about Evan when a friend of mine joined the “Fight for Evan” facebook group, and I happened to click on it to see what the group was about. I followed the link on the group to the caringbridge site. I don’t why, but something drew me into his story and once I started reading the journal I couldn’t stop. I continued to follow Evan’s fight and came to feel very connected to Evan and his family. Like everyone else, I was heartbroken on Nov. 2, when I read the message that he had passed away. In the coming months, however, I saw Evan’s family turn their grief and devastation into a mission to save lives. For a long time, I had felt somewhat uncomfortable with the fact that I had been given such an intimate glimpse into a family’s life, while doing nothing with that gift. However, as a recent college graduate without the means to host a drive on my own, I didn’t know what I could do.
At USC I had gone through on a ROTC scholarship. After we get commissioned, the Army requires us to go through two military schools, one of which I began this past September. This first week I was there I noticed our Commander had put up a sign for a Blood Drive at the end of the course. When I saw that, I realized this was my chance to become part of the “Evan Entourage.” The Department of Defense has a program that works with the NMDP to register members of the military. They not only fully fund the drives, but also help track military members so that if they come up as a match they can be brought home from wherever they are in the world to be donors.
I went to my commander with my proposal and was told that so long as I took care of everything there I could host the drive. Originally I had been hoping they were already planning one and I could just give a talk beforehand about the importance of registering, so I was a little overwhelmed at the idea of setting it all up myself. Fortunately, as soon as I contacted Gina, she reassured me and was there every step of the way to help me with anything I needed. Much to my surprise, setting up the drive was easy! The DoD sent me everything I needed in terms of supplies and instructions and Gina provided me with all the information I needed to properly inform people about registering.
As an introverted person who doesn’t like speaking in front of crowds, the only part I was really nervous was giving my speech to the classmates about why they should register. I arranged for groups to come see me by platoon (which is around 40 people each), meaning I would give my plea 5 times! Before the first group, I was incredibly nervous. My biggest fear was that people wouldn’t want to register, and that was only added to by the fact that I overheard a number of comments as people came into the room saying that they weren’t going to do it! But as I shared Evan’s story, I could see that people were listening, and when I finished I could hardly believe it when nearly everyone came up to take an envelope to register – even those very same people who had said coming in that they weren’t going to! By the end of the day, I had two full boxes of new registration envelops. To realize that 134 people decided to become potential donors that day was extremely humbling.
Being able to host a drive was such a blessing to me. I can’t wait to do another one and I’m so thankful to Gina for all her help and for letting me be part of the “Entourage.” I encourage anyone who has thought about getting involved to just take that first jump and do it. You can do it!!
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