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Pulse blood donor speaks with Eyewitness News 9

By Field Sutton
By Field Sutton
One Blood is releasing a documentary this weekend about the donors whose blood kept the shooting victims alive the night of the Pulse attack.
Channel 9's Field Sutton met one of them today; a woman who had donated blood a month before the shooting. In fact, she'd been donating for the better part of  20 years before that. She just never thought about where the blood went until one night in June when it went right down the street to a hospital that was rapidly running out.

ORLANDO, Fla. — "It felt like a lake. It was like a lake of blood flowing out of me." said Pulse survivor Ilka Reyes

Under the flashing lights on Orange Avenue, blood became the antidote to hate.
"Because without the blood we wouldn't be here talking to you." she added.
We've heard stories from survivors like Ilka Reyes. But not from people like Victoria.
She'd always heard each blood donation helped three people.
"Because that's what they tell you." said blood donor Victoria
But she never realized how real those people could become. "It's just a reality check." said Victoria.
Eight months after Pulse, Victoria found out her blood saved one of the people at Pulse and was one of a record-setting 441 units poured into people in less than 24 hours.
"It was like chills that went through me, you know that the Lord allowed me to be such a blessing to someone else."  said Victoria.
And then as part of this documentary she got to meet the survivors who in turn finally found out who gave them the gift of life.
"There was tears shed. There was a lot of hugging. And it was like we were literally family.” said Victoria.
Just their tears, or your tears?
“Both. Both."
Those tears convinced Victoria's daughter to start going with her mom for those regular donations.
Although these days they don't really seem that regular at all.

"I can't really even describe the feeling to think someone is living because of that thirty minutes that I took to give blood." added Ilkes.

- Field Sutton, Eyewitness News 9.

Cox Media Group

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