Pulse survivors Tony Marrero and Bryan Caraballo say, before June 12, 2016, they did not donate blood often.

“Me, for example, I think I have donated once in my life,” said Marrero.

“I was actually one of those people and my family was,” said Caraballo.

But each will tell anyone now, without blood donations, they wouldn’t be alive. 

  • Pulse survivors partnering with OneBlood
  • Trying to get more people to donate blood more often
  • After Pulse tragedy, 28,500 people lined up to donate blood
  • COMPLETE COVERAGE: Pulse -- the attack and the aftermath

“You can have the best doctors, the best everything, but without the blood, there would have been nothing they could do for us,” said Ilka Reyes, Pulse survivor.

Reyes was shot nine times, Caraballo three times, Marrero four times, and Jeff Xcentric four times.

“I bled out for over three hours, and by the time that I had arrived [at the hospital], I was already blue,” said Xcentric.

During the week following the Pulse tragedy, OneBlood, a local blood donation center, said 28,500 people stood in lines to donate blood.

Of those people, 33 percent were first-time donors. OneBlood representatives said the only issue is that of those first-time donors, less than 10 percent have returned to donate for a second time.

“We can actually get people to donate blood every day, not just one day. I mean we need blood every day,” said Reyes.

The four of them, along with Angel Colon who recently had a surgery and could not attend, have all partnered with OneBlood.

“I would have never thought something like this would happen to me, you just never know when life is going to take a turn. You just never know if it’s your mom, parents, anybody is going to need blood one day,” said Caraballo.

Their goal is to encourage more people to donate and thus, save lives.

“It’s the human thing to do, help out each other,” said Marrero.

The group will continue this campaign for the next few months and continue to share their stories of survival.

And to those who do donate blood, Xcentric said this: “Thank you, you know? Thank you, for helping save my life.”

A OneBlood representative said blood is always needed. Especially if a person has the universal blood type of O negative.

OneBlood alone sends their donations out to 200 different hospitals. One unit of blood can help save up to three people.

To learn more about donating, click here.