It was a lovely afternoon at his home in New England. He was with his wife. They had nowhere to be and nothing to do. They were enjoying the stillness of the summer. They were enjoying each other. But they did not know that death was in the room with them.
Unbeknownst to him, Sebastian Junger (who has appeared on the Daily Stoic podcast) had ruptured an undiagnosed aneurysm in his pancreatic artery. He was bleeding to death internally, losing a pint of blood every 10 to 15 minutes.
Eventually, Junger realized something was wrong and was rushed to the trauma bay of Cape Cod Hospital. As Junger laid on the hospital bed, doctors working to insert a needle into his veins to transfuse and restore blood to his body, Junger felt a black abyss start to open up beneath him and pull him in. Right when he felt himself slipping down into the darkness, he was suddenly visited by the spirt of his father, who had been dead for almost 10 years. Junger’s father told him not to worry. He was going to be okay. “There’s nothing to be scared of,” his father said. “I’ll take care of you.”
And Junger was okay, after doctors transfused almost 10 pints of blood into him, saving his life (he details the whole experience, and what he learned from it, in his amazing book In My Time of Dying). It was due to anonymous blood donors that Junger survived, he realized, and now makes it a point to donate blood as often as he can—which amount to about three or four times a year.
“Please donate blood at your nearest blood bank,” he says, “you may well save the life of a child or a parent, and one day you may need blood yourself…There aren’t many ways to be part of something greater than yourself, and donating blood is one of the easiest and finest.”
As parents, life pulls us in a thousand directions—work, family, our own ambitions. It’s easy to get caught up, to think we’re too busy to give back. But Sebastian Junger’s story is a powerful reminder: one day, it might be us or someone we love who needs help.
So, give where you can. Donate blood, lend a hand, show up for others. Because when the time comes, we’ll hope that someone else cared enough to do the same.
Donating blood only requires about an hour of your time. There’s a blood bank near you—whether it’s a local hospital, a Red Cross center, or a community blood drive. It’s such an easy way to make a massive difference in someone’s life. Search out your local blood bank and book an appointment today.
By the way, you can grab copies of In My Time of Dying at the Painted Porch. We also carry Tribe and Freedom, both short but profound books by Junger based on his decades of experience as a war reporter in the Middle East. Head here to grab all three today.