Put your differences aside and donate blood

Two friends with very different beliefs are hoping to inspire others do donate blood by sharing their story.

With the Covid-19 epidemic affecting the lives and health of many, there has never been a better time to help out by donating much-needed blood. The duo religiously donates blood at the SANBS permanent donation office at Northgate Shopping Centre every two months, and even though Liam Doyle is a devoted Christian and Adrian Ziller is a proud atheist, the two life-long friends would like to send the message that anyone regardless of faith, skin colour or creed can donate blood and save the lives of others.

“This is the easiest, simplest and cheapest way to be a superhero. A person can save up to three lives with every donation, and it’s just the right thing to do,” said Ziller, who is the managing director of a digital education and training company called Blue Pencil Creative.”Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or atheist, it does not matter. The fact that we are all going to die at some stage should be enough for us all to show some compassion towards one another. We all have the same blood, and sadly, only one per cent of South Africans are blood donors, and we need more,” said Doyle, who is an English teacher at Andrews Academy in Windsor Glen.

The whole plan started after Doyle put a post up on his church group on Facebook asking for people to join him and donate blood on a Saturday.”Ironically, it was this atheist who turned up,” joked Ziller.”It is important for people to know that even if we have our disagreements, donating blood is highly important. “We know that ours is a very small story of two people with conflicting personal views on life, but we hope that people can put any differences they may have aside and donate to others in need, especially during this time,” concluded Doyle.