2023-12-13

Memorial blood drive honours departed scallop fisherman

COOKVILLE - The number of people who rolled up their sleeves during the time of a blood drive in tribute to the late Timothy Childs exceeded anticipated donation amounts, Canadian Blood Services says.

The agency collected "113 per cent of our target", spokesperson Renee Horton said in an email.

There were multiple days of public clinics in early November at the Best Western hotel along Highway 10; one of those, on Nov. 9, was in memory of Childs. The Whynotts Settlement, Lunenburg County scallop fisherman died in August 2022 due to complications from metastatic gastro-esophageal cancer.

The 50-year-old required 15 blood transfusions within a 56-day span while in a medically-induced coma as he dealt with multiple organ failure.

"Those were 15 people who kept him alive," said his widow, Carla Zinck-Childs. Although together since 2007, the couple wed just a month before his passing. They had planned to tie the knot this year.

"He was the greatest man on earth," she told LighthouseNOW the day of the memorial blood drive. "He was my whole world; I was his whole world."

"When he was home from sea, we were always together."

Childs' cancer diagnosis came in February 2022. Growing weaker by the day while waiting for a treatment plan, he had surgery to insert a feeding tube but the operation didn't go well and he ended up developing sepsis, a serious medical condition caused by the body's significant immune reaction to an infection. This led to the multiple transfusions before he ultimately lost his battle with the disease.

Zinck-Childs came up with the idea of an annual blood drive as a way to raise awareness about the life-sustaining and saving value of donating while remembering her husband. She broached the idea with Childs' who wholeheartedly endorsed it.

"He raised his arm and said, 'Right on,"' she said. "He was so proud of that."

The donation drive will take place every November, the month of his birthday.

Childs, survived by his wife, father, two brothers, son and daughter, loved video-gaming and had an appetite for his spouse's homemade Reese's Pieces cookies.

The baked goods, including a couple of oatmeal raisin varieties, were available to donors for free at the Nov. 9 clinic. Pictures of Childs were on display and a guest book was there to sign.

Zinck-Childs sports a tattoo on her arm as symbol of love for her husband and wears his ashes on a necklace. "He was special," she said.

As donors arrived and shuffled out of the hotel conference room where the giving took place, Zinck-Childs said her husband would have loved how the day went.

"He would be looking down with a big smile on his face knowing his memory is kept alive and other people are being helped," she added.

Anyone interested in hosting a blood donation event in memory of someone can contact Canadian Blood Services, said the agency's community development manager Corey Matheson.

Such drives ordinarily yield many first-time donors who may return and become regular donors, he said. Donation events also highlight the importance of replenishing Canada's blood supply.

To learn more about how to be a donor, go to www.blood.ca on the internet or to book an appointment, call 1-888-2-DONATE.