From STAFF REPORTS
CORDELE — The Dixie Riders Motorcycle Club is holding its fourth annual blood drive Tuesday from 1-7 p.m. at the Cordele Community Clubhouse.
Tuesday’s blood drive is being conducted in memory of Nancy Bridges, who lost a battle with leukemia this summer, and in honor of Jaclyn Wood, who continues her four-year fight against the disease.
The Dixie Riders will also hold a raffle to raise funds for its charitable efforts in Crisp, Dooly and surrounding counties. The $1,000 drawing will be held at 7 p.m. at the conclusion of the blood drive. Ticket are $10 each or three for $20. All blood donors will also receive a ticket.
Last year’s blood drive was the largest held in the state on that particular day. The Dixie Riders held that event in memory of club member Ronnie Morgan, who was killed in an automobile accident.
Bridges, who will be memorialized with this year’s blood drive, was diagnosed with A-LL t-cell leukemia in July 2008 and passed away less than three weeks later, according to the Dixie Riders’ Sandra Cape. She said doctors call A-LL t-cell leukemia the most aggressive form of the disease.
Bridges taught in the Crisp County School System for over 30 years and returned to the middle school as an academic coach after retirement.
Wood, who suffers from the chronic myelogenious form of leukemia, has been fighting cancer since December 2003. Her treatment led to a stem-cell transplant in May 2005, but her body is rejecting the transplant, which has resulted in the need for numerous blood transfusions among other complex procedures.
“Jaclyn stressed to me that without these blood drives she could not have had all of her blood transfusions,” Cape said. “The need for blood truly is urgent.”
