TI Swimmers invited to make a Lifesaving Difference

I swim almost daily and get a regular checkup with my doctor (though perhaps not annually). However I’ve been among those guilty of giving blood at far less frequent intervals than I should. So here is my pledge to donate three pints a year so that – should I ever need to make a withdrawal – I’ll know I’ve done my part to keep the national blood bank flush. Please join me.

Swim well — Live well,
Terry Laughlin
Head Coach & CEO (Chief Executive Optimist)

Guest Contributer Tom Riles of Save3Lives.com invites TI swimmers to make a difference.

By the time I celebrated my sixtieth birthday on Christmas Eve 2008. I
was swimming one mile in my community pool every morning in Ladera
Ranch, CA & remembered that swimming four twenty five yard lenghths in
the same pool five years earlier nearly killed me.

That’s when a neighbor gave me two important pointers…..practice Terry
Laughlin’s Total Immersion drills & wear goggles to prevent bloodshot
eyes all day long.

Today, I’m is in the pool at 5:00am daily for an hour practicing TI
drills & I tell everyone thanks to TI, an old dog can learn new tricks.

In a recent phone conversation with Terry Laughlin I told Terry I want
to inspire by my own example 20,000 TI swimmers to email me their
commitment to swim daily, get an annual physical exam & donate blood
three times in 2009.

I’m encouraging swimmers to swim daily because if you don’t use it, you
loose it.

I want to know that swimmers are getting physical exams, because early
detection is the best protection against disease.

Seventy five pints of my blood in the tash can ago, lab tests taken
during a routine annual physical showed my doctor I had developed a
condition called Polycythemia & my body was overproducing red blood
cells.

Determined to bring good out of my diagnosis to others, by advocating
for hospitalized neighbors from coast to coast & around the world who
need donated blood to enjoy more time with loved ones, I made the
decision to embark on a one man "Mission to Find Blood Donors."

I know one person can make a difference….Please visit:
www.save3livestoday.com

The subject line in an email I received the day after USATODAY had a
photo & story about my mission to find blood donors said, "Greetings
from Quwait." After reading USA TODAY online the day before, an American stationed in the Persian Gulf, emailed me to make his commitment to
donate blood three times per year & say he would work out the logistics
to host a blood drive.

Donating one pint of blood can help SAVE 3 LIVES. Sadly, according to
Americas Blood Centers, 95% of our nation’s eligible donors have never
given this Gift of Life.

I believe we will find 20,000 TI swimmers to email me their commitment
to donate & thus help SAVE 180,000 LIVES.

PLEASE email your commitment today to Tom Riles at: save3lives@cox.net

So, let’s get annuial physical exams, go the extra mile in the pool &
the extra mile for our dear neighbors living in illness by donating
blood to enable 180,000 hospitalized neighbors who are counting on us to
enjoy more time with loved ones.

Inspired by thoughts of the lifesaving difference we can make together,

Tom Riles
Ladera Ranch, CA
Swim better, live better, SAVE LIVES together!

http://www.overachieversdiary.com Louis Tharp

Tom:

I’m Louis Tharp[url]http://www.louistharp.org[/url], and my friends and I would like to donate 219,000 pints of blood – each year.

This is the quantity the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law says could be donated each year if the FDA lifted its ban on gay men giving blood.

Most people are unaware that the FDA will not allow gay men to donate blood if they have had sex with another man – anytime since 1977.

The American Red Cross, the Human Rights Campaign, America’s Blood Centers, the American Association of Blood Banks, Senators, Congressmen, physicians, scientists, and many others, are sympathetic to changing these rules. But the FDA, following the recommendation of the Federal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability, says “no”.

The American Red Cross said, “While the Red Cross is obligated by law to follow the guidelines set forth by the FDA, we also strongly support the use of rational, scientifically based deferral periods that are applied fairly and consistently among donors who engage in similar risk activities.”

We have sophisticated tests that can identify the HIV virus as well as antibodies, ensuring a safe blood supply. Unfortunately we also have less than sophisticated people in charge who prefer to choose homophobia over science, ensuring a continuing blood shortage.

Please give blood, heterosexuals. You’re 219,000 pints behind.