Eagan Man Gives Blood 5 Years After Transfusions Saved His Life

EAGAN, MN—Five years after blood transfusions saved his life after an accident, an Eagan man encouraged community members to donate blood Friday in his name.

Bryan Joas, 50 of Eagan, was hit by a car in 2016 while riding his bike home from work. The driver was never found.

According to information about the accident provided by the American Red Cross, Joas stayed in the hospital, where he underwent 12 surgeries and 50 blood transfusions.

“I think we were shocked when he just kept getting more and more blood transfusions,” Shauna Joas, Bryan’s wife, said. “He almost cleaned out the blood bank.”

Both of the Joas’ had donated blood before, but seeing how much blood was needed after the accident opened the couples' eyes and made them donate blood more often.

“Blood donation was something easy that we could try to encourage people to do,” Mrs. Joas said. “After the accident we had three different blood drives in Bryan’s honor to bring awareness. A lot of people donated blood for the first time because they knew who Bryan was, so if we could help in any way, this was an easy way to give back.”

Joas told Patch that the annual #JoasStrong blood drive began as a blood drive through his office at work, and the office has been doing it annually since then.

This year, due to the pandemic, his office was not able to hold the blood drive. Mrs. Joas told Patch she reached out to their church, Easter Lutheran Church, which also does monthly blood drives.

“I asked the woman who organizes the blood drives at Easter Lutheran if we could have the monthly blood drive for March be in honor of Bryan since his work couldn’t do it this year, and they said ‘absolutely’,” she said.

Easter Lutheran doubled the number of spots they had available to give blood and added more staff to accommodate the #JoasStrong blood drive.

Joas said the community is extremely supportive of the drive, with both people he knows from work, as well as members of his extended family attending.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “The support that I had when I was in the hospital with my family, people were taking care of things when I couldn’t do anything was just amazing. (The support for this blood drive) is just a continuation of that support. It shows that people still care and want to do something not only to help me but to help others as well, and I think that’s really important. It’s a sign of a great community.”

In more recent years, the annual blood drive serves as a memory of the support the couple received after the accident.

“Being reminded of the support we all received is what means the most to me about the blood drive,” Joas said, adding that it was a way to help others the same way he was helped half a decade ago.

“It’s so unexpected-you never know whether you or a loved one is going to need blood,” he said.

Mrs. Joas told Patch that giving blood is an easy way to give back and help others who may need blood.

“It helps to use Bryan as a face of someone who really benefited from blood donations,” she said. “Putting a face to it helps people realize ‘Oh yeah, I need get in there and give some blood.’”