Blood drive held in honor of girl battling tumor

Brookland, Arkansas – On Sunday, a group of people gathered in Brookland to support those facing health challenges.

On July 21, the Red Cross and the Woods Chapel Baptist Church conducted their third annual blood drive.

In memory of Piper Keeler, a young patient at St. Jude Children’s Hospital who was diagnosed with a malignancy, a blood drive was organized.

They wanted to make sure that giving blood was simple, according to Pastor Rick Hathcoat.

“You know we just wanted a place here locally and we have the facility here to be able to do it and we just wanted to have a place where people could give,” Hathcoat said.

Chuck Fears and Lacey Ivy were at the blood drive when they learned of Keeler’s experience.

“When they mentioned here a couple of weeks at church and everything and told us it was gonna be for Piper, she’s a small example of what we can do to give back to the community, especially with everything she has to go through,” Fears said.

I replied, “Let’s do that. Like you know, I’ve never given blood before, and I just thought it would be a good thing,” as I sat down next to a friend.

Participants stated that while blood donation is always necessary, it can only play a minor role in saving a life.

“Blood drive is something that they are always begging for you know, is people to give blood. I know the blood bank is constantly low on blood we want to be just a small part of this community when there are people here in our community that need blood,” Hathcoat said.

“It’s just a small part but at the end of the day, it can be a big part for somebody, somewhere,” Fears said.

The church was able to surpass its objective of 35 units, according to Pastor Hathcoat, who also noted that the turnout was better than it had been the previous two years.