MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — You might've heard the name before; Battle of the Badges. First responders of a community compete for a trophy to see which department can have the most donors for Blood Assurance. An event for Rutherford County was held Tuesday.
"First responders are the most competitive people on the planet!" laughed Amanda Boisseau, giving blood for Blood Assurance at Patterson Park Community Center.
"Team EMS!" Boisseau smiled. "We are going to win this. We're the best."
I went over to Lisa Marchesoni of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department to see if she thinks EMS will win.
"They may!" she laughed. "We're hoping we will win."
"When I talked with them, they said we're in the lead!" said Rutherford County Detention Deputy Tyler Al-Greene, motioning to the Blood Assurance crew.
Brooke Katz of Blood Assurance is glad for the competition for some big picture reasons.
"I don't think people realize the need," Katz said. "Right now, we're in a tough spot. We're coming in off the heels of an ice storm that really impacted a huge portion of Blood Assurance. Much like a lot of middle Tennessee, we kinda had to shut down. We had a lot of drives canceled. We lost out on hundreds of donations. The surgeries at the hospitals don't stop. We serve the local hospitals. We're the primary supplier for most of the hospitals here in middle Tennessee."
Marchesoni had a focused, personal reason to be invested in this day.
"One of my closest friends has a granddaughter who is at [Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt] right now, and she's suffering from a very serious medical condition," she said. "She's 27, 28 days old. She needs O- blood to help her through and fight this medical condition that she has. We're hoping people will donate because it could save her life right now."
This Battle of the Badges is now over with numbers being counted. Blood Assurance always has drives and donation centers going for those big picture and smaller focus reasons.
"When it becomes personal, there's an even greater need for giving blood," Marchesoni said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Here’s a beautiful story of how one mother turned her grief journey into a gathering of gratitude… and organ donation awareness.
Robb Coles highlights a special event organized by Cari Hollis – whose 26-year old son Austin died two years ago. Austin agreed to be an organ donor – and that single gesture saved multiple lives.
Cari reached out to as many recipients she could find – several of whom traveled to Nashville for an emotional celebration in Austin’s honor. One woman – whose life was saved by receiving Austin’s lungs – put it simply: “He’s my angel”.
- Rhori Johnston
