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New West Realtor grateful for life-saving blood transfusion

Darcy Schlechtleitner wants to help give the gift that keeps on giving. In March, Schlechtleitner received an emergency blood transfusion that saved her life.
Darcy Schlechtleitner
Team Rethink Realtor Darcy Schlechtleitner is grateful to have more time with family, including son Mateo, after receiving a life-saving blood transfusion in March. She’s holding a blood drive on Sept. 22 and encouraging community members to attend and give blood.

Darcy Schlechtleitner wants to help give the gift that keeps on giving.

In March, Schlechtleitner received an emergency blood transfusion that saved her life. The transfusion came five years after Schlechtleitner was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.

“I don’t get sick very often, it’s been five years since the last time, but this time I lost a lot of blood and I didn’t really realize it,” she told the Record. “When I got to the hospital, I was dying.”

After being admitted to Royal Columbian hospital, Schlechtleitner received her first-ever blood transfusion. She likens the impact of the blood transfusion to watching a wilting flower come back to life.

“It was so immediate,” she said. “It was like immediately someone gave me life.”

Schlechtleitner, who was in the hospital for about three weeks in the spring, felt compelled to do what she could to help Canadian Blood Services. A Realtor with Team Rethink in New West, Schlechtleitner is urging clients, employees and community members to attend a Give Life blood drive on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 3 to 8 p.m. in the Hyack ballroom at the Inn at the Quay, 900 Quayside Dr.

Giving blood, said Schlechtleitner, is something many people don’t think about as they go about their daily lives. She’s grateful her life-saving transfusion has given her the ability to be with her family and carry on with her career.

“It’s something that doesn’t take a lot of your time. You can save someone’s life and not even know it,” she said. “I needed it – I was going to die without it.”

Schlechtleitner committed to the Canadian Blood Services that she’d have 75 people donate blood at Team Rethink’s upcoming blood drive.

“We are 100 per cent pre-booked for that clinic. Because we are working with a realtor, we are predicting a lot more people to be attending,” said Cherise Louie, territory manager, said Canadian Blood Services. “People can drop in because you never know who will not show up. People can drop in without an appointment – that’s no problem at all. The need for blood is constant. Just because there are no appointments available for the New Westminster clinic on Sept. 22 doesn’t mean that people can’t just walk in.”

Louie said Canadian Blood Services is also in need of 100 donors for a clinic it’s holding on Sunday, Sept. 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Byrne Creek Secondary School, 7777 18th St. in Burnaby, just across the New West border.

“If people are not able to make it out to the Sept. 22 clinic to support the Realtor, we are asking them to come out and support Byrne Creek Secondary,” she said. “Whether you come out on Sept. 11 or 22, it is still going to B.C. hospital patients.”

To book an appointment for the Sept. 11 blood drive or to get information about donor eligibility, go to www.blood.ca.

“We need 15,000 new donors in B.C. this year,” Louie said. “We always need new donors. It only takes one hour to donate. We suggest people drink lots of water and drink something before they come in. They don’t need to know their blood type. A lot of people think that they need to know their blood type before they donate.”