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Giving the "gift of life" is a way of life for a Neenah woman. Kris LeCompte makes it a monthly ritual to roll up her sleeve and donate platelets to the Community Blood Center in Appleton especially since she has a rare blood type.  

 

"One day I was driving down the road and a thing came over the news saying we need AB positive donors which I am, and I said well I can do that. And that was the beginning," said LeCompte.

Twelve years have now gone by, and LeCompte is still donating every month. She's a former nurse, so she's seen first-hand how cancer patients can benefit from platelet transfusions.

"The energy level, the resiliency that they receive or the fact that they're living for another few years because of a blood donation, that was important to me," explains LeCompte.

The Community Blood Center is grateful for LeCompte's impressive 71 donations and counting.

"Kris is an amazing person, and I think her generosity clearly comes through," said Angela Brumm, Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator for the Community Blood Center.

The center serves eighteen hospitals in Wisconsin and Michigan's upper peninsula so demand is always high, but donations really drop off during the holiday season that stretches from Thanksgiving through New Years.

"People are busy. There are fewer blood drives during that time, because people are off of work. They're taking vacations, they're visiting, they're celebrating and they're not thinking about blood donation," explains Brumm. 

LeCompte encourages everyone to considering donating blood. 

"It's just such a positive thing to do that doesn't require a lot of time and doesn't hurt."

According to the center, the actual blood donation takes less than fifteen minutes and each donation can help save up to three lives. For Kris, it's motivation to keep rolling up her sleeve.

"I just walk out of here, and I'm like 'yeah that was good,' and in thirty days I'll be back."