Stoughton YMCA Hosts Blood Drive in Honor of Boston Marathon Victims and First Responders

In honor of the victims and first responder heroes of the Boston Marathon Bombings, the Stoughton YMCA hosted a Children's Hospital Boston Blood Drive Thursday afternoon. 

Like the other blood drives held at the Y, it was run by Mary Coulter-Bennett, a Stoughton resident and group fitness coordinator at the Stoughton YMCA.  

She was at marathon on April 15, watching from the grandstands at the finish line, across the street from where the explosion took place.   

Her brother, Stoughton resident William Coulter, was running and she was there to support three members of the YMCA staff also running.

"It is helpful to my personal healing to see that people care that much and people were willing to sit and wait [to donate]," Coulter-Bennett said.

So many turned out - about 75 - that people had to be turned away towards the end of the five-hour drive. 

It was the first time Diane Seigel, an Easton resident, could donate after her breast cancer diagnosis six-and-a-half years ago. 

"I've been waiting to be able to give again," she said. 

Among the donors were state police officers, Boston Athletic Association volunteers, marathon runners, and community members Coulter-Bennett said. 

Celeste Kaye, of Sharon, was a little more than 25.7 miles into her Boston Marathon journey, just a half-mile from the finish line, when she, like so many other runners, were stopped short of finishing following the explosions. 

Kaye was there Thursday at the YMCA to donate blood. 

"Everybody who was injured was there supporting the runners; the very least I can do it this," Kaye said. "I wish there was more that I could do."

Kaye, who was running the Boston Marathon for Multiple Sclerosis, was invited to run the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 5.

She'll also be running in the Boston Marathon again next year.

"I'm absolutely running Boston again...There's not a doubt in my mind," Kaye said. "They can't stop us."