A Donor's Story: Dan

Jun 1, 2023 | Cameron Smith | @cameronsmith

In 2021, Dan Doering and his son were mountain biking in Northern Minnesota when Dan misjudged a curve and collided with a tree. Prior to the collision, Dan rotated his body, causing his back to sustain most of the impact. After being rushed to the emergency department, Dan learned he suffered a grade 5 spleen rupture with internal bleeding and three fractured vertebrae. Dan underwent an emergency splenectomy in a small regional hospital up north, where he received five units of blood that had to be flown in from Brainard, Minnesota. “I recognize what a profound gift I received on that day. I would not be here if someone had not made the decision to donate blood,” said Dan.

Once he was fully recovered and back home in Rochester, Dan called the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program to start donating blood. “I wish I would have found the motivation to donate before I received a donation gift myself. I encourage folks to recognize the impact that you can have on someone else’s life and not wait for an incident like I had to experience.”

Dan has a sign in his office that reads, “To the world you might just be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” To him, it’s more than just a saying. “My blood donor means the world to me,” said Dan. “There is not a day that goes by that I do not thank God for the gift of that person who answered the call to donate blood. They will never even know what a difference that gift made to me and my family.”