The Blood Bag Project
Do any of their stories resonate with you? What would your blood bag look like?
“Before I got blood cancer, I didn’t really understand the importance of blood. I went to the hospital because I was having trouble breathing, and they found that my red blood cell count was below the normal range, meaning oxygen transport wasn’t happening well, which was causing my shortness of breath. I received a transfusion for that and also received platelets while undergoing treatment and recovery. After I had fully recovered and returned home, my oldest child—my daughter, who is now a college student—felt a kind of duty to donate blood, partly because of me. She’s blood type O, and since her high school senior year, she has been regularly donating.
I first got sick when she was in her second year of high school. One day, she came home with severe bruising. When I asked her why, she explained that it was because a blood vessel had burst internally. She was told (at the blood donation center) that these things can happen and was given an emergency treatment. After seeing what she had to go through, I realized that donating blood isn’t easy. I’ve never donated blood myself because the requirements are so strict: you can’t take any medication, or have given birth, among other things. I couldn’t meet those conditions, but my daughter, despite being young, saw her mom suffering and decided to take action by donating blood. When I saw her bruised all over from it, I felt so grateful and thankful. She said that once she heals, she’ll go donate again. I realized through my daughter how truly difficult it is to donate blood. When I received transfusions, I didn’t fully feel the gratitude, but after seeing her give blood to the point of bruising—still putting on a skin-colored tape and heading to her part-time job, saying it was fine—I felt this is no simple task. I wanted to express my deep gratitude for the people who helped save me.”
“Since blood donation itself is about sharing, I thought of it as containing love, so I wanted to draw a heart. When I tried to express a full heart, I thought it would be nice to also represent hope, so I drew a large heart in layers and expressed it in rainbow colors.”
“There’s an animation called Ladybug. Do you know it? Ladybug fights for justice. I wanted to make LOVE big here, but I ran out of time and it was difficult, so I put LOVE small, with the red symbolizing blood, the heart representing the heart, and love, and the yellow is platelets, something like that. (Do you usually sew?) No, I just wanted it to fly to my kids and protect them. That’s my thought. (Do you often watch this animation with your son?) Yes, we used to watch it a lot when he was young. (Is it French?) I’m not sure; it’s about fighting for justice. Kids love it, so I thought it’s for children with pediatric cancer.”
“At our hospital, there was an event for kids with leukemia, and this is the representative character. At that time, they gave out pretty calligraphy frames, and the phrase we chose was “Laugh more, love more.” Since my child can’t go out easily, he talks to the sky, trees, passing cars and birds. Since it’s hard to make friends, he makes friends with things. So I made this character for him to have one more friend and laugh a little more.”
“I made the Big Dipper constellation with beads. When you’re in the hospital, you just look at the ceiling, longing to go outside, see the sunlight. I represented the moon, too, though you can’t see it (together with the Big Dipper). I just added it for fun.”
“This is my band logo. It means “無限” in Chinese characters, which are “no limit,” meaning “without limits.” I hope that people receiving these bags will also be able to receive blood without limits. I started the band after recovery.”
“After thinking about it, since it’s a blood bag, I added symbols for blood types. When I was battling leukemia, one of the hardest parts was receiving platelet transfusions and finding platelet donors. That’s still difficult now. I used a yellow ribbon here to represent that nicely. Among us here (KLPO office team), I’m the only one who’s received a transfusion, but I thought blood type is also important. When a certain blood type is in short supply, it’s different for each blood type. That’s the meaning I included here.”
“Here, I included the logo representing the Leukemia Patients’ Association, led by Director An Gi-jong. Here, the blood is the support, and everything is connected; it reaches patients through transfusions. This heart represents life.”
“I was in the ICU with leukemia and was even given a death sentence, and because of that, I lost both my hands and feet. I represented my lost hands and feet here. The sun and the moon rise together in the sky, but we only see the sun during the day and the moon at night. I wanted to always see the sun and the moon together, so I expressed them with buttons. The red line represents blood. I wish that clear blood always flows into me so I can be healthy.”
“And this one with my feet, here it represents mountains, as I hope that, even though it’s still difficult to walk, I’ll be healthy enough to go hiking someday. (Pointing the label in the black, name is written I love Tiny Hands (jomakson).) My channel name is Tiny Hands, where I mostly post drawings I make with my hands. I recently started a channel on leukemia and disabilities, and today I’m posting for the first time.”
“This somehow ended up facing downward, but I think it’s better this way. I want to say I’m blessed. All the people, make my life. My friends, my family, my donor, make my life…. I used my nickname for my name and wrote my location as “home,” meaning I’m at home wherever I am now, thanks to you. Though I really do want to go home after being here for so many hours.”
“I expressed blood as an apple, pretty and fresh. I have three children, so I put their names hanging here, wishing they’d live fresh like an apple.”
