Wheeler, Dollar coordinate local blood drives
BJ Wheeler, an active member of the Grace Point Nazarene Church, took an unconventional and challenging path to becoming a champion for blood drives in the area.
“The first thing you need to understand about me is that I am a bornagain Christian, I am a proud American, I am a Texan—a third-generation Texan—[and] I am a United States Marine.”
In December 2010, what started as a routine trip to the nephrologist to check on his kidneys with his late wife, Pat Wheeler, quickly took a sharp turn for the worse after his doctor looked at his blood work.
“‘Mama, take him to the hospital,’” BJ said, quoting the doctor’s comments at the time. “‘Don’t go home, don’t get a change of clothes, go to the hospital!’” That’s when BJ learned he needed a kidney transplant.
For the next nine years, he waited for a kidney, doing home peritoneal dialysis for two years, then for seven years, three days a week, and four hours a day, BJ went to a clinic for hemodialysis as he waited for a kidney.
Then, in November of 2019, BJ received a call for a kidney transplant.
Although it was a high-risk transplant due to the donor’s known drug use, he took that chance.
“Who’s going to say the next kidney will be any better?” he said.
And it worked out. Six years later, BJ still gets the “all-clear” for his kidney.
“I never thought I’d live to be 65, [but] here I am 72, me and Abagale,” he said, using the name he gave his kidney. “She’d been 31 if she were still alive.”
Fast forward to 2022, while watching TV, BJ saw an advertisement on the TV about Carter BloodCare.
He called and asked how he could donate blood, but there was a hiccup.
When they found out he was an organ recipient, BJ was denied due to his kidney transplant and the medication he was required to take for it.
But BJ was determined.
“You don’t tell a Marine you can’t do something,” he said.
So, he asked, “What do I have to do to start a blood drive?”
After three to four months of planning, the blood drive went into effect.
Sponsored in part by Grace Point and supported by the community, BJ’s role is to scout the location, set up the posters and discuss it at community events.
But he doesn’t do this alone.
He gives a lot of credit to Shawn Dollar, co-owner of Sturm Welding, Inc. with her husband Dale, for the success of the drive.
“She set the appointments,” Wheeler said. “She makes the phone calls. She gets the people to sign up and give blood.”
And Shawn was up for the task.
“I have a lot of connections, and I know a lot of people because I’ve been here for 27 years,” Shawn said. “So, he knew I was the one.”
For nearly three years, this annual event has been held four times a year: Valentine’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Chrome Fest, and Veterans Day.
Since these blood drives were started in Pilot Point, about 170 units of blood have been collected, BJ said.
According to the American Red Cross, a single unit of blood from one donation can save multiple lives.
“We have 28 slots, and we don’t fill them all up, but our goal is like 18, and we always meet our goal. And sometimes after you give blood … you get an email later that day that says your blood was used at Trophy Club that very day!” Dollar said. “There’s not much I can do to help other people survive. But this is like the gift of life, and you know this is a big deal when I can give blood, and it can affect somebody else’s life.”
The message for BJ is clear.
“I never tell anyone that ‘you have to give blood,’” he said. “If you want to, we can make that happen. If you don’t, that’s OK. I won’t feel any different about you.”
The next blood drive is in the works to come soon, in honor of Veterans Day.
Along with the blood drive, BJ has another goal he wants to accomplish— to inform the community about organ donations.
After his near brush with death, for BJ, this is a way of returning the favor.
“I had kidney failure for going on 15 years,” BJ said. “If it wasn’t for that kidney, I would have probably been dead by now. It’s not for everyone, and I’m OK with that, too!”
