September 14, 2001

As television screens flickered and radios blared with the somber news that the United States had been attacked, the nation's hope and resolve could be seen clearly in blood donor centers everywhere.

At the MGH, a line of would-be blood donors (at right) stretched past the Jackson Lobby within an hour of the first news reports. By 7 pm, when the Blood Donor Center closed its doors for the night, more than 400 people had come to the MGH to donate. The average for any given day typically is 30 to 50 donations.

Some members of the Blood Transfusion Service staff, both in the Donor Center and in the laboratories, worked from 7 am to midnight to collect and process all of the donated blood.

The donors themselves represented a wide range of ages, circumstances and backgrounds – all united by a simple desire to help. Some donors were directly impacted by the devastation wrought in New York City and Washington, DC. Bernard Donefer commutes between Boston and New York; his family lives in Manhattan. He was on the phone with an associate working at the World Trade Center when the first plane struck.

"All I heard was 'Fire! Bomb!' and the line went dead," Donefer related, his voice trembling. "I don't think anyone could have comprehended horror of this magnitude. I know a lot of people in New York. I take this very personally."

The center collected 330 units of blood Sept. 11 alone. The turnout was so great that some donors had to be asked to return at a later date. "We are limited in the amount of blood we can collect and process on a daily basis," says Christopher Stowell, MD, PhD, of MGH Pathology and director of the Blood Donor Center. "For this reason, we hope that people will consider returning to donate blood in the coming weeks."

Bill Hynes, administrative director of MGH Pathology, described blood donors' overwhelming response not only at the MGH, but also at the Blood Donor Center's traveling bloodmobile buses. "We've had tremendous support from MGH staff, local employers and even tourists who have walked in off the street to donate," he said. "It is so uplifting to see people chipping in to help at such a time of tragedy."

For updated information about the status of blood donation at the MGH, call (617) 726-8177 or visit www2.massgeneral.org