To the editor:

Danielle,

I don’t think I have ever met you when I’ve come into The Covington News to see my mom Debbie Thompson. Next time I am there, I will make sure to introduce myself.

I want to thank you for writing the news article about the upcoming blood drives in Covington and for including Troy University on the list of donation sites.

Several of the people who came to donate blood yesterday knew about our blood drive because they read the paper.

Amber,

Thank you so much for advertising our blood drive on The Covington News’ Facebook page and Twitter. There were several people who donated yesterday who found out about the blood drive through social media.

Thank you again for donating blood at our first blood drive we hosted in January.

I know firsthand how important blood donations are. At the age of 6 years old, I received several blood transfusions after having my tonsils removed. There were several times I hemorrhaged so badly and lost so much blood, I was close to dying; in fact, the doctors and nurses didn’t think I was going to live.

I have no idea who the generous people were who donated the blood I received, but I will forever be grateful for the priceless gift they gave me. Because of those people, I am alive today. While I cannot donate blood, I feel like I should give back what was given to me.

The only way I can do that is through hosting blood drives and I will continue to do so every three or four months.

Yesterday, we had 26 people donate blood and each of those blood donations will save at least three lives. Some of those donations came in because of The Covington News.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping us save at least 78 lives yesterday.

Ashley Arrow

Covington