In 2022, Jesse Kilgore was serving in the U.S. Army in Germany when he got an unexpected call. Thanks to the smart thinking of his sister – who is also a veteran – and the American Red Cross’ emergency communication service, Jesse learned that his father was dying. He needed to get to Los Angeles right away so he could say goodbye.
But Jesse didn’t have the money to fly halfway across the world. So once again the American Red Cross came through. Jesse was gifted with the cost to fly to LA just before his father passed away.
That experience inspired Jesse to pay back the Red Cross “not with money, but with my own labor,” Jesse said. He signed up to help the Red Cross with disaster services. Communities and families depend on the Red Cross and its volunteers to provide comfort and support following a disaster such as wildfires, floods, and hurricanes by opening shelters, providing warm meals, offering critical financial help and supporting them through the recovery phase among other services.
One August morning in 2023, Katie “Sully” Sullivan awoke to the first news segments about the Maui wildfires. An experienced American Red Cross Disaster Program Manager for Alameda County, she soon realized things were going to get bad. Later, the phone rang. It was American Red Cross national headquarters asking her to deploy. “Over the six years I’ve been with the Red Cross, I’ve seen the aftermath of large-scale disasters, from hurricanes to tornadoes to floods. Each brought unique challenges,” she recently said when remembering the disaster nearly a year later. But for Sully, this one stood out.
Hurricane Dora crashing into Maui’s tinder-dry foliage on August 8, 2023, meant there was little warning for what would become the worst natural disaster in the archipelago’s recorded history. The result: the historic district of Lahaina was virtually vaporized—as were sections of Palehu and the smaller Upcountry community of Kula—causing approximately 100 fatalities. A year later, the effort to heal and rebuild is still underway.
In the floods of 1981-82, the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area were surrounded by 25-inch rainfalls that hit the mountains ruthlessly, causing 33 deaths and damaging over 7,800 homes and businesses. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the heavy rains triggered mudslides that blocked road access to the upper regions, burying buildings and trapping people.
Jill Hofmann, a licensed marriage, family and child therapist, was one of the residents of Santa Cruz County who was recruited to be part of the County Mental Health Team in 1981, quickly arose to support impacted residents, providing grief counseling and helping them cope.
However, the physical and mental efforts she remembered enduring, such as visiting community shelters or climbing over tree trunks to deliver packaged food, were just the beginning of her story as a Red Crosser. In fact, during the floods, Jill truly saw the lasting kindness and compassion of her fellow volunteers, after which she began her own journey of 43 years as a Red Cross volunteer.
Anna-mary Geist holds up a photo of her son in hospital when he was born with half a heart 13 years ago. Photo by Alex Keilty / American Red Cross
They found out something was wrong when Anna-mary Geist had an ultrasound at 12 weeks pregnant: her baby’s heart wasn’t formed properly.
“They told us his heart defect was so severe that he wouldn’t make it to delivery,” Anna-mary recalled.
At one of her subsequent prenatal checkups, the doctor said, ‘I don’t know how he is still surviving,’ remembered Anna-mary. “You hope for the best, you pray a lot,” she said.
But survive he did. All the way through a full-term pregnancy until he could be delivered by c-section to be born at noon on September 1, 2010 with two teams of doctors waiting for him in the delivery room, nobody knowing what to expect. Baby Samuel was immediately rushed to a nearby children’s hospital, accompanied by Anna-mary’s husband, Jerry. Anna-mary didn’t see their baby again until after 10 p.m. that night.
“Oh my gosh, he is so cute!” That was her first thought when she saw Samuel, known as Sam, who was severely swollen from fetal hydrops, with wires attached all around him, along with tubes for breathing and feeding.
Their baby was born with Kabuki syndrome – a rare congenital disorder that can affect many body systems, including the heart, intestines, kidneys, and skeleton. Sam had a congenital heart defect – HLHS – hypoplastic left heart syndrome. HLHS is when the left side of the heart does not form correctly, and in Sam’s case, not at all, which affects blood flow through the heart and out into the body
Sam was born with half a heart and required open-heart surgery at 36 hours old. Photo courtesy of Anna-mary Geist
“He basically has half a heart,” explained Anna-mary.
At 36 hours old, their baby needed open-heart surgery that required several blood transfusions. That is how Anna-mary’s journey with the American Red Cross began.
“I came to the Red Cross because the people who receive Red Cross donations are the people who saved him,” said Anna-mary, about the donors who provided Sam’s life-saving blood transfusions.
Anna-mary had donated blood before Sam came along. But after he was born, his family – which includes his father Jerry, and sisters Emily, 15, and Julia, 10 – began to host an annual Red Cross blood drive. They hold it in the first week of September in their hometown in Massachusetts to commemorate Sam’s birthday and as a way to give back to the community.
An open-heart surgery at two days old was not Sam’s last. In his life he has had three open-heart surgeries that all required blood transfusions, and 17 surgeries in all.
“He is a fighter. He clearly wants to be here for something,” said Anna-mary. “We are just along for the ride.”
Today, Sam is a happy and active 13-year-old who attends regular school with some support and plays adaptive sports every week – baseball, basketball, soccer and lacrosse – with other special needs children. His mom says in addition to being the player, sometimes he plays the coach and dresses in a suit, while other days he’s a cheerleader when the mood strikes him.
Sam, as a toddler, greets blood donors at his annual Red Cross blood drive. Photo courtesy of Anna-mary GeistSam’s father Jerry, mother Anna-mary and sisters Emily and Julia host an annual Red Cross blood drive and his mother hosts quarterly blood drives at Intuit’s global headquarters. Photo courtesy of Anna–mary Geist
“He is such a gift. If there is a way we can give back to someone else, why wouldn’t we? Blood donations are easy… and free!” she said.
In addition to Sam’s annual birthday blood drive, in 2023 Anna-mary started hosting quarterly blood drives at Intuit’s global headquarters in Mountain View, California. She is employed by Intuit as an indirect tax research manager and project manager. Anna-mary most recently donated blood on May 7, 2024 at a blood drive at Intuit where 30 of her fellow employees made appointments to donate as well.
Sam also appreciates the blood donors who saved his life. He greets them at his blood drives with the biggest smile. Anna-mary said, “He knows the gift he has been given.”
Photos of the blood drive at Intuit on May 7, 2024 can be viewed here.
American Red Cross Regional CEO Hanna Malak (left) celebrates his friend Rodrigo Galindo’s 50th blood donation to the Red Cross at the San José blood center.
“We were the same age, we went to Boy Scout camp together,” says Rodrigo Galindo recalling his friend Steven. “Our dads served together on the same ship in the US Navy.”
When Steven became sick with leukemia, Rodrigo was about 13 years old and felt powerless to help. And then when Steven lost his battle with cancer, Rodrigo’s whole family mourned the loss. “We were god brothers,” he says.
Never forgetting his friend and the importance of blood donations for cancer treatment, Rodrigo donated blood for the first time in high school as soon as he was old enough. Since then, he has become a regular blood donor and recently celebrated an extra special accomplishment: his 50th blood donation to the American Red Cross.
Photo courtesy of Madhu Amesur – American Red Cross
Madhu Amesur has turned her family’s heartbreaking tragedy into an ongoing gift of life for the Red Cross, globally. In January of 2023, Madhu lost her son, Dilip, to a sudden and devastating health crisis. Dilip was 30, happily married and the devoted father of three little boys. Madhu, in deep grief, continued in her work as a blood donor ambassador at the Contra Costa Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Pleasant Hill, California where she has volunteered since 2006. Madhu fondly remembers the staff at the center who contributed to a fund for Dilip’s children; a community gesture that moved her deeply.
“Last year, on my son’s first birthday after his passing, I wanted to do something special to honor and remember him. At my blood donor ambassador shift, I got the idea to ask my friends to donate blood and call it “Dilip’s Gift of Life,” said Madhu. “Soon so many people all over the world donated blood; it was such a joy for me to know that after his loss something good could be done to honor him. My mission on earth is to spread awareness for the everyday gift of life, encouraging people to donate blood and volunteer. We want as much awareness in the community as possible. The gift of life is precious, and anyone can give it.”
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