Charles Drew was one of the great black American surgeons and scientists. He made a principal contribution to the American Red Cross blood program in learning and discovering that blood plasma, as opposed to whole blood, was not only acceptable but preferable in blood transfusions. Up until his time, if you wanted a blood transfusion, you could use only whole blood. Whole blood could not be stockpiled. It had to be refrigerated. It would spoil after a brief period of time. It required that you type and cross-match the blood. There were all kinds of complications in giving a person a blood transfusion. But Charles Drew discovered that blood plasma not only contained all of the life-giving ingredients that were necessary but also could be stockpiled for months without refrigeration. He found that you didn’t have to worry about blood types or cross-matching; you could give the blood plasma to people and it could save lives anywhere and everywhere.
Not only did he help to discover that, he inaugurated a program of establishing blood banks all across America where blood could be collected and then sent to places where it was needed. As a result of the work of Charles Drew, blood plasma was stockpiled at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by the Japanese, and plenty of it was on hand to treat the wounded. Ninety-three out of every 100 wounded men treated and given blood transfusions with blood plasma survived. The ironic thing is that two months short of his 47th birthday, Charles Drew was involved in an automobile accident and his arteries were severely damaged. Because he was black he was refused admission to a hospital, and Charles Drew died for lack of blood. But none need die for lack of Christ’s blood. “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ourselves only, but for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).