Something special is brewing at Olympia’s Three Magnets Brewery. It’s a new blood orange red IPA that’s part of a blood donation awareness campaign with Bloodworks Northwest called, “Savor Life Save a Life.” And on this edition of Bloodworks 101, producer John Yeager tells us that there’s a lot more to this special beer than ingredients like hops and barley and even the creativity of the brewers. If you want to find the heart of this story, just ask Sara Reilly, one of the co-owners at Three Magnets.
Click here to listen to this delicious episode if our Bloodworks 101 podcast and when you’re done, be sure to schedule a blood donation appointment too; you never know who’s out there counting on you for help. Below is a local news spot about the “It Takes All Types” launch, followed by a transcript of this episode.
John: One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. All right, can you tell me who you are and what you do?
Sarah: My name is Sarah Reilly. My husband and I own Three Magnets Brewing Company in Olympia, Washington.
John: So why are you guys involved? Well, just give me an overview about what’s going to happen regarding Savor Life with you guys here.
Sarah: Yeah, so we were asked to join the campaign to brew a special beer for it. And we are doing that in collaboration with many different organizations, Lucky Envelope Brewing, Flatstick Pub, of course, Bloodworks, and Imperial Yeast. We’re making a blood orange IPA for it, which is kind of a [inaudible 00:00:52], I suppose.
The reason why we wanted to get involved was partially because blood transfusions helped save my father’s life. While he was going through some heart failure, he ended up with a heart transplant. And of course, blood is an imperative part of that process.
John: So could you tell me who you are and what you do?
Jim: Yeah, my name is Jim Ellsner. I’m a retired sales rep with an oil company.
John: So, Jim, tell me about what went through…well, what you went through in that period before you had to get the heart transplant, and then just bring us along for that ride, if you will.
Jim: Sure, I was working, and in January of 2011, my heart pretty much went into heart failure. And I spent a few weeks at the local hospital at Providence, working with my cardiologist and everyone there, and was slowly but surely dying.
And my cardiologist, thoughtfully, about two years prior to that, knew that, at some point, I was going to need more help than he could give. And he sent me to the University of Washington, the Northwest Heart Center. And I met with a doctor up there, Dr. Wayne Levy.
And so, I had an association with this fellow. And in January of 2011, my heart pretty much went into failure, and they did as much as they could for me in Olympia, and then sent me to the University of Washington. And within a few days up there, they ended up putting an LVAD heart pump in me, a little rotary vein pump that runs all the time. It was pretty cutting-edge stuff at the time. And in fact, our ex-vice president, Dick Cheney, had one just like that.
And so, I think I was somewhere, like, maybe in the 40s, number 44 or something like that, of the number of LVAD heart pumps they’d put in. And now they’ve done just tons of them. And as a result of that, I was on that for about 23 months, whereupon, I finally got a heart and had a heart transplant in December of 2012.
And so, as you know, during things like that, they have to put you on a heart-lung machine and transferring fluids in body, you know, blood and everything around. And so, the blood was a very big part of it, and I used a lot of it.
And so, I’ve been very grateful to, you know, the Blood Center and to the University of Washington for giving me an opportunity to live a longer, fuller life.
John: So when you see people donate blood now, it’s personal?
Jim: It’s very personal. Yeah, there’s such a demand for it now. And I guess now, especially. And I think most people just don’t realize how big a need that there is out there. Every day, there’s a huge need.
John: And what do you feel like seeing him…having him around for a few more years?
Sarah: Yeah, I mean, my dad was only 59 when he went into heart failure. I was married, but I didn’t even have children yet. Now I have a 6 and 8-year-old that have a grandfather that they would not have had if the technology wasn’t around and if the donations weren’t around. So very grateful to have him around. We did lose my mother five years ago. And so, it’d be pretty hard to have lost both parents so young. Yeah.
John: So what’s your message for people out there? I mean, I can pretty much fill in the blank. But personally, how do you want people to consider blood donation right now? What’s your message to people, in short?
Sarah: I think giving blood is something that’s very simple, doesn’t take very much time, but makes such a massive impact. People just have to remember that it’s something they need to do and try to make make it a regular basis and constantly give. And, you know, it really makes an impact, something very simple that can save a life.
John: So, as far as Three Magnets, give me an idea as far as what you guys are doing for the campaign or how we… Yeah, give me an idea of what you’re doing for the campaign.
Sarah: Yeah, the whole idea behind this campaign is to make sure that people are aware that there is not enough blood right now. It’s critical levels. And so, really, we’re just trying to get the word out. So that will be on our can, and that message will be given across at many different restaurants and pubs throughout the Pacific Northwest to just remind people that it is a dire time.
John: Is there a special brew that you guys are making?
Sarah: Yes, yeah. Blood orange IPA, along with Lucky Envelope Brewing. It seems appropriate, of course, because of blood. And then you always think of blood donations and orange juice. And, you know, just a little reminder to people and also kind of funny at the same time.
John: Is there anything else that you’d like to add that I didn’t ask? Jim, what about you?
Jim: You know, I think one of the things that’s important is for people to really think about this is, it is such a simple thing giving blood. And what most people really don’t put in their mind is that it could happen to you. Tomorrow, you could be in a car wreck.
Tomorrow, you could have a massive hemorrhage or something and need a massive amount of blood. And so, we’re all vulnerable, and it’s important to just get out there and let that little simple thing save somebody’s life, and it might be their own.
John: Thank you. Thanks, guys.
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