The Community Blood Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania is hosting a special blood drive this week for a local family whose father’s life was impacted by blood transfusions.

Matt Blackburn was diagnosed with leukemia in 2020 on Easter Sunday.

After many challenging blood transfusions and eight rounds of chemotherapy, he started his remission journey.

Blackburn relapsed a year later and had to go through more intense treatment.

He is currently back in remission and hopes to share his journey while raising awareness for donating blood.

“I’m standing here today because of the blood bank. If I didn’t have people donating blood, I wouldn’t be here. Right now there’s somebody in a hospital that needs blood,” said Matt Blackburn, B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia survivor.

“Some people don’t know how important it is. It actually goes to people in your community, it’s not just going to people you don’t know. It’s going to save people like my dad,” said Kaitlyn Blackburn, daughter.

If you would like to donate in honor of Blackburn, you can go to the Erie Donor Center on Peach Street between now and April 1.