ajc.com 2008 Holiday Guide

You know people like Jarek Ware. They live down the street, across town, across the hall.

They're trauma victims or suffer from sickle cell anemia or cancer, like Ware. They depend on blood transfusions to stay alive.

The other day, Ware learned his blood level was good. Which meant his appointment at the Kann Cancer Center in Decatur would be a little shorter than normal.

It was the third time in a week Ware had come in to have his blood checked; the first time he didn't need blood or platelets.

If you had asked him a year ago if he thought he'd ever be in this place, he would've said no. If you had asked him to donate blood, the answer would've been no, too. For what?

At 25, Jarek Ware was 220 pounds of energy, moving from one thing to next. He was strong. Independent. Invincible.

Just as the first days of summer set in, Ware started to feel sick. He struggled to breathe. He was waking in the middle of the night wet with sweat. He felt chilled.

A family doctor diagnosed bronchitis and prescribed an antibiotic and an over-the-counter cough syrup.

Ware felt better for about a week, but the symptoms soon returned. In addition to the chills and night sweats, he was coughing and felt tired.

After another misdiagnosis and a "boatload" of prescription and over-the-counter medicine, Ware said his mother urged him to go to the emergency room.

He drove himself to DeKalb Medical Center 35 minutes from his home in Covington.

After a battery of tests, doctors diagnosed acute myelocytic leukemia, a blood-based cancer. Without transfusions, he'd die.

His plight, officials say, underscores the continuing need for blood donors here and across the country, especially around the holidays. Every three seconds, somebody in the United States needs blood.

DeKalb Medical Center today will host its annual blood drive in the auditorium of the hospital at 2701 N. Decatur Road.

"Donating blood only takes a few minutes, but it can save a life," said Tahira Carpenter, coordinator of the blood drive. "What could better gift to give this holiday season?"

Last year, Ware might have answered that question differently. This year there is no question how he'd answer.

"Too many lives, including mine, depend on it," he said. "I'm alive because of the kindnesses of others."

At DeKalb Medical's Kann center last week, Ware sat poised for another blood transfusion. The chemotherapy that has helped send his cancer into remission also depletes his blood cells.

"I will never look at donating blood the same," he said, "ever again."

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