Business sponsors blood drive to honor employee's ailing brother

DINGMANS FERRY — The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive Saturday, Aug. 4, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pike Physical Therapy, 1346 Route 739, Dingmans Ferry, in honor of a Pike Physical Therapy staff’s family member who has cancer. Tom Roberts, of Chester, N.J. is the brother of PPT employee Karin Lindsley, of Dingmans Ferry. At age 46, he has been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Because of his age and type of cancer, Tom is not a candidate for some forms of treatment, such as transplants. There is no cure for his disease. Multiple Myeloma is a progressive blood disease, a cancer of the plasma cells. It is often characterized by osteoporosis in the pelvis, ribs, spine, and skull. Tom Roberts has four children, a boy and three girls, ranging in age from 5 to 16. His family asks that Dingmans Ferry area residents give blood in his honor at this Aug. 4 collection to help save the lives of others. Because each donation can be made into three different blood products n red cells, platelets, and plasma n each donor will have the potential to help three different hospital patients. Blood donations help surgical patients, trauma and burn victims, cancer patients, patients with blood disorders such as hemophilia and anemia, newborn infants, and so many others, and summer is a time when blood supplies often run low. To give blood, you must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be healthy. For more information, call PPT at 570-686-4300 or the Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE LIFE.