OFFICER NEEDS HELP!

[HoMa506]

Unfortunately Officer Todd Young, 39 who was shot trying to serve a warrant needed 60 units of blood. The 16-year veteran of Fremont PD and Newark PD needs more. If anybody in the SF Bay Area can give blood, please donate in his name at the American Red Cross or local blood bank. Blood type is not critical.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38897085/ns/local_news-san_francisco_bay_area_ca/

[ltherlungs]

would it be ok if I posted this on my facebook?

Thanks
Terry

[HoMa506]

Please do. You and anybody else out there is more than welcome to cut and paste my entire post to whatever other forum you might be on. Thank you.

[fullrearview]

If I was closer I would do it......I will also post to facebook.

[kermit315]

any update on this? how is he?

[HoMa506]

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

The American Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Oakland is usually closed on Labor Day, but it was humming with donors Monday - many of them responding to the near-fatal wounding of a Fremont police officer.

"I want to support the people that protect the community," said Scot Doolan, a Berkeley YMCA employee sitting with a half dozen other donors in the waiting room of the office on Claremont Avenue. Beside him was his mother, Pamela Doolan, a former Berkeley school board member who, like most people there, has regularly given blood for many years.

"It's such a small thing to do with huge benefits," she said.

At the front counter were the day's premiums: free T-shirts, an appetizer at a local cafe and the chance to sign a "Thinking of You" card for Fremont Officer Todd Young, who is still in serious condition at Highland Hospital after being wounded Aug. 27 while trying to arrest a suspected gang member in East Oakland.

A "great outpouring of people" in response to Young's shooting and urgent transfusions led the Red Cross to keep its four East Bay centers - in Pleasanton, Pleasant Hill, Newark and Oakland - open on Labor Day, said spokeswoman Sarah O'Brien.

All the centers are reporting donations at 50 percent above normal, enabling the Red Cross to declare the end today of a blood shortage it had announced Aug. 23, O'Brien said. She said the Oakland center was anticipating 25 donors Monday but had gotten 38 reservations by mid-morning.

The Red Cross staff held a blood drive for police employees in Fremont last Thursday and Friday, expected 35 donors and got 100, O'Brien said. Oakland police are due at the center on Wednesday.

All donated blood is refrigerated and shipped overnight to the Red Cross national laboratory in Portland for testing before being released to hospitals, O'Brien said. She said supplies usually dwindle in the summer, with donors on vacation and schools out of session, and current economic woes have made businesses reluctant to hold blood drives or let employees take time off to donate.

Some of Monday's donors show up every eight weeks, the minimum waiting period required by the Food and Drug Administration. Cheryl Palmer, a retired Berkeley librarian, has done it for 25 years.

"It doesn't hurt, it's a friendly place, and you go away with a feeling that you've done something good," said Palmer, who had an added incentive Monday - her niece's husband recently went to work for the Fremont Police Department.

"Maybe when you need (blood), it's going to be there for you," said Kristin Uber of Oakland as she lay on a recliner awaiting a phlebotomist. At her feet was one of the dogs she trains for a San Francisco agency to assist deaf people like herself.

At the next station, Julie Williamson, an accountant from Emeryville, leafed through the novel "Eat, Pray, Love" while waiting for another technician. She said she hadn't known about Young's plight before Monday but regularly gave blood to maintain a family tradition. Her father, who died in July, had a rare blood type and donated about 37 gallons over his lifetime.

A pile of get-well cards at the front desk awaited delivery to Young, who received a batch Thursday while still under sedation, O'Brien said.

"Your strength has been ours," one donor wrote to the officer. "Now's the time for our strength to be yours."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz0yuAG53O3

[HoMa506]

Officer Todd Young is doing better, he is awake now. His wife said that he still has a long way to go and thanked everyone for the support!

[AAShooter]

Thanks for the update.

[Doheny]

Glad he's still fighting the good fight.

[pinwheels]

Do they still need donations in his name to make up the balance used?

[HoMa506]

I know after the San Bruno PG&E gas pipe explosion they had a big blood drive turnout. I couldn't tell you if they still need blood in his name or not but there was a lot of support for him when the call went out. A call to your local blood bank should be able to answer your question.

[HoMa506]

Officer Young is now recovering at home with his wife and their two children. He must still undergo additional surgeries, hopefully he'll be able to make a full recovery and return to work.

Full story here.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/22/BAKK1G03H6.DTL

[1lostinspace]

that sucks glad to hear he is ok