The panel schedule for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con is now live. While you strategize to snag the best seats or find the best exclusives, please consider making a little time to become a hero yourself by giving blood at the annual Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive.
Since 1977, SDCC attendees have donated 22,607 pints of blood, saving an estimated 67,000 lives. Last year’s drive was a record-setter, with more than 2,800 pints collected. SDCC’s 50th anniversary is a chance to beat that record and save so many more lives.
I’ve got a personal stake in this. I have multiple myeloma, a cancer keeping my bone marrow from making healthy blood cells. I needed three units of blood when I was first diagnosed in May. This fall I may need more units when I undergo a stem cell transplant to fight this disease. And I may face even more transfusions down the line. There is no cure for multiple myeloma – yet.
Donating blood sounds scary, but it really isn’t. I used to donate regularly. If you meet the requirements, the process is very easy and not painful beyond a pinprick. (And often I didn’t even feel those pinpricks!) Donors to this year’s drive will receive an Avengers T-shirt and “other goodies,” according to SDCC. They’ll also be entered in daily drawings for prizes donated by exhibitors, professionals and staff.
You can sign up for the blood drive online or at the Sails Pavilion. Or just walk in to the Blood Drive Room in the Grand Hyatt’ Hotel’s Coronado Ballroom. And you don’t need any stinkin’ badges to get in!
The blood drive runs from 9-6 Wednesday through Saturday, and 9 – 3:30 on Sunday. Go donate, then tweet me a photo with the hashtag #sdccblooddrive. My handle is @lot_fans_mom.
I can’t make the con this year, but with your help I plan to be there in 2020. Won’t you be my hero?