SNOHOMISH -- As Snohomish School District Superintendent Bill Mester undergoes a stem-cell transplant for cancer in a Seattle hospital, 90 of his employees found a way to support him Tuesday.
Each climbed the narrow steps of a long Puget Sound Blood Center bus, rolled up a sleeve, laid down, offered a vein and donated blood.
That's what Mester wanted.
Since being diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in October, Mester has undergone radiation, chemotherapy and roughly a dozen blood transfusions. He has come to appreciate first-hand how precious a gift blood is and how important the donations are. Given frequent shortages, he asked school district employees to consider giving blood.
The response was overwhelming.
"To know that people can really be so generous and thoughtful and supportive of others really does help him," said Mester's wife, Fran, who was at the hospital with him Tuesday. "They are a very caring community and very action-oriented and that's what makes Snohomish so special."
This was the first blood drive among school district employees that acting Superintendent Betty Robertson can remember in her 10 years in Snohomish.
At first, no one knew exactly what to expect, including the Puget Sound Blood Center, which deployed two buses to school district headquarters.
"We told them we would need at least 35 to send out a bus," said Gayle Richards, who helps coordinate blood drives for the blood center. "When they got back to us, we said, 'Whoa, are you serious?' "
What the center ended up with was 120 employees signing up. Because of scheduling conflicts, only 100 could come on Monday and 10 of those had to be turned away because of colds or other health concerns. Those employees will be referred to other blood drives in the community.
Members of the district's PTAs and other community groups have also told the district they want to give blood and a separate event is being organized with the blood center. Students from the Snohomish High School JROTC also will hold a blood drive.
"It's really amazing how people will really go to bat for someone in need," Richards said.
More than half the donors Monday were giving blood for the first time.
Kraig Rosencrantz, a maintenance supervisor for the district, was one of those who had not given blood before.
"It's pretty hard not to think about it, especially with Bill's health issues," he said. "We think about him a lot. I haven't given before and I have always wanted to. This gave me an incentive."
When Rose Flaherty, a nurse at three south district elementary schools, saw the e-mail looking for donors in Mester's behalf, "I just automatically said, 'I'm going to do it.' "
Jay Smith, a lead mechanic who has worked for the district for 28 years, had a brother, Rick, die from cancer several years ago. That loss and Mester's illness led him to the blood center van Monday.
"When it hits close to home, you start really looking at what you can do," he said.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
