The Darren Maule Blood Drive shatters expectations

As the ambitious, goal-driven people that we are, we challenged not only ourselves, but the whole of KZN, to donate 300 units of blood in 12 hours. Taking into consideration Netcare Umhlanga’s previous record two years ago - where they collected 260 units of blood, this was always going to be a difficult task. To be honest, we thought we may have bitten off more than we could chew.

However, on Friday morning, before the gates had even opened, there was an undeniable ripple of excitement running through the crowds, and let me tell you something, that excitement and carnival vibe did not stop for a second!

Businesses and the people of KZN came through to provide eats and drinks for those that waited in the queue. I’m not sure if it was the limited-edition Chateaux Gateaux chocolate cake, the candy floss, Slush Puppies or boerewors rolls that were being handed out, or the people getting a chance to come through and see SA’s No.1 Breakfast Show, but we were inundated with people from 07:00 to well after 19:00, joining in and contributing to both the cause and jovial atmosphere.

To be perfectly honest, the only regret that I have is that due to the overwhelming support of the people that came to donate blood for our cause, there was no way that we were able to register, process, and draw blood within the 15 to 20 minutes that I had told you it would take. The event was just attended to the most epic proportions. Having learnt from our previous blood drives, we had taken the initiative to quadruple not only the beds, but also the data capturers and medics on site for the day. We’d even gone as far as to pull in every available medic in KZN, as well as medical staff from as far reaching as Richards Bay, Port Shepstone, and Pietermaritzburg to join us. We were still left standing in awe seeing that even with those steps in place, there was no way for all the staff to get everyone through the process faster than the crowds of people were coming through to support this initiative.

The most heartening thing was the fact there wasn't a single complaint. There were obviously some people that had to rush off and fetch their kids from school, or get back to work, or had other obligations that didn't allow them to stay, but there were also others that completed the registration and then came back later to give their donation, but there were no complaints. Everyone there could see and sense that this was an exceptional moment happening in history and they were an integral part to that. I say in history, because, although we are still collecting the data, we did not know that we would possible have to call the Guiness World Book of Records to attend the day with us. We did not anticipate this outcome at all.

That being said, our overly ambitious goal of collecting 300 units of blood in 12 hours from one venue, was not only reached (with the 300^{t h} unit donated by yours truly, Darren Maule), we shattered the ceiling. We collected an incredible 626 units of blood.

Let me put that in perspective for you: nearly 50 people donated blood per hour, the target we had set was exceeded by more than double, and at the end of the day when the last person took that seat and their blood was drawn at around 20:15 on Friday night, there were 626 units of blood collected. That means that because of you, KZN, nearly 2,000 people’s lives have been saved!

So to everyone, starting with Konrad Jones who was the first person to donate blood on Friday morning, to Ajay Haripersadh who was the 626th person to donated blood on Friday night, thank you!