Charles Richard Drew was a renowned surgeon who developed a method for storing blood plasma and transporting that blood to the people who needed it. He was also the father of America's first large scale blood bank.
A native of Washington, he was a gifted athlete who was recruited to Amherst College, one of only 13 African-Americans in a student body of 600. He earned his medical degree in 1933 at McGill University, one of few schools open to black students, winning several prizes along the way and graduating second in his class.
Despite constant roadblocks because of race, Drew did his internship and residency at Montreal Hospital, and joined the faculty at Howard University School of Medicine, teaching pathology and surgery and eventually becoming chief surgical resident at Freedmen's Hospital. While working on a doctorate at Columbia, he won a fellowship to train at Presbyterian Hospital with John Scudder, who called him, "naturally great," and, "a brilliant pupil." While working with Scudder his interest in transfusions and blood typing grew. His dissertation was called a "masterpiece" and "one of the most distinguished essays ever written." Eventually his procedures and standards for collecting and storing blood led to the Blood for Britain Project, which saved thousands of lives in World War II.
Drew went on to a brilliant, but short, career. On March 31, 1950, he drove to a conference in North Carolina. It was late and he was tired. He fell asleep at the wheel and the automobile crashed. Drew was rushed to an all-white hospital. He needed a transfusion. Because it makes for a much more titillating story, word went around that he was refused the transfusion because he was black. I found that in several places, including a printed book. But later, the correct story finally made the light of day. He did receive the transfusion he needed just like any other patient, but it was not enough to save him. He died on April 1, 1950.
I suppose the comparison here is obvious. Blood will save lives. My own mother had to have 2 pints of it once because one of those many numbers they count had gone from a normal 13 to 5. But even that will not save everyone, and it will not save forever. Only one blood will do that—the blood of the sinless Savior. No matter your race, no matter your sin, it can save you. It does not need special processing or equipment to store it. It is right there, always available. Paul even tells us the proper procedure:
Or are you ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he who has died is justified from sin. (Rom 6:3-7)
Do you need a transfusion?
Dene Ward
A native of Washington, he was a gifted athlete who was recruited to Amherst College, one of only 13 African-Americans in a student body of 600. He earned his medical degree in 1933 at McGill University, one of few schools open to black students, winning several prizes along the way and graduating second in his class.
Despite constant roadblocks because of race, Drew did his internship and residency at Montreal Hospital, and joined the faculty at Howard University School of Medicine, teaching pathology and surgery and eventually becoming chief surgical resident at Freedmen's Hospital. While working on a doctorate at Columbia, he won a fellowship to train at Presbyterian Hospital with John Scudder, who called him, "naturally great," and, "a brilliant pupil." While working with Scudder his interest in transfusions and blood typing grew. His dissertation was called a "masterpiece" and "one of the most distinguished essays ever written." Eventually his procedures and standards for collecting and storing blood led to the Blood for Britain Project, which saved thousands of lives in World War II.
Drew went on to a brilliant, but short, career. On March 31, 1950, he drove to a conference in North Carolina. It was late and he was tired. He fell asleep at the wheel and the automobile crashed. Drew was rushed to an all-white hospital. He needed a transfusion. Because it makes for a much more titillating story, word went around that he was refused the transfusion because he was black. I found that in several places, including a printed book. But later, the correct story finally made the light of day. He did receive the transfusion he needed just like any other patient, but it was not enough to save him. He died on April 1, 1950.
I suppose the comparison here is obvious. Blood will save lives. My own mother had to have 2 pints of it once because one of those many numbers they count had gone from a normal 13 to 5. But even that will not save everyone, and it will not save forever. Only one blood will do that—the blood of the sinless Savior. No matter your race, no matter your sin, it can save you. It does not need special processing or equipment to store it. It is right there, always available. Paul even tells us the proper procedure:
Or are you ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he who has died is justified from sin. (Rom 6:3-7)
Do you need a transfusion?
Dene Ward
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