FROM:
http://cafedavid.multiply.com/journal/item/80Why don't people just take 10 seconds to do some checking before forwarding SMS or emails?
The next day, The Star reported on this SMS:
CHECK BEFORE PASSING ON SMS
PENANG: The next time you receive an SMS asking for help to spread word about the need for a rare blood type to save someone's life, check with the hospital before doing so.
In the case of patient Yau Jia Xin, nine, with an O negative blood type, requests for the rare blood group continued being made nationwide even after sufficient blood had been secured on Saturday.
Nurse P.C. Teo, 40, said she got the help of two Chinese newspapers on Thursday to appeal for the blood after learning that her daughter needed surgery to remove a benign tumour in her heart.
“On Saturday, the hospital had already obtained the blood needed but the SMS suddenly started circulating without my knowledge.
“I believe it was done with good intentions and I need to say 'thank you.' We already have enough blood,” she said outside the intensive care unit of Lam Wah Ee Hospital after her daughter had successfully undergone a three-hour operation to remove the tumour yesterday.
Teo said her handphone was flooded with messages and calls from people all over the country conveying their concern and verifying the message, while some potential donors also turned up at the hospital.
She said Jia Yin, a Year Three student of SJK(C) Keong Hoe, suddenly suffered a stroke at school on Wednesday, later found to have been caused by a tumour in her heart, a rare condition called atrial myxoma.
Lam Wah Ee blood bank's consultant pathologist Dr P.K. Das, who also received the SMS, said the hospital had obtained six units of O negative blood on Saturday after calling donors with the rare blood group registered with the hospital.
“We advise those with rare blood types to register with the hospital so that we can call them in future if the need arises,” he said.