Alex's Story

For years at his high school, Alex Ralston remembers, “Giving blood was…an excuse to get out of class.”

Little did students know, he adds, “that the blood they gave would affect my life so much. The donations they made have allowed a remarkable organization, Puget Sound Blood Center, to continue giving life to those in need.”

Two and a half years ago, Ralston was one of those in need of blood. Seventeen at the time, he was working on a moored boat in Pt. Angeles when he fell headfirst to the dock, leaving him paralyzed below the shoulders.

“Without the Blood Center, I would not be able to speak to you today,” Ralston told Seattle Partners in Life.

“And without the Blood Center, I would not have had the pleasure of having my best friend around for 16 years,” he said about a cousin who fought life-long leukemia with the Blood Center’s help. Ralston thanked the Blood Center for a “lifetime of memories” that they shared until the fight ended two years ago.

This day, Ralston shared the stage with a friend. They met shortly after his hospitalization. “Hailey Fox came with her radiant glow and brought an instant smile to my face, even during times of sadness,” he recalls. Without the Blood Center, he says, there wouldn’t have been an opportunity to meet her.

And opportunity is what this inspirational young man looks forward to, always. His outlook mirrors that of Jimmy Valvano, the late North Carolina State University basketball coach that he quotes: “Don’t give up; don’t ever give up!”

Fittingly, Ralston emphasizes, “I will continue on with my life, filled with many goals of helping others. My dream is to become a teacher.

“I have been blessed to have the opportunities that life has presented me.”