WATCH ‘Emotional’ Reunion Between Surgeon, Trauma Patient Puts Blood Drive in Spotlight

February 01, 2023

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HEALTH FIRST TRAUMA SURGEON SCOTT ZENONI, MD, along with Eileen and Mark Stapleton of Viera had a reunion of sorts in front of media microphones and cameras Feb. 8, 2023. Dr. Zenoni was the trauma surgeon who helped save Mark Stapleton's life. The two used the occasion – and a visit from the Big Red Bus, the mobile blood donation clinic – to highlight the importance of donating blood.

“Emotional” was the word used by both patient and surgeon who reunited at a blood drive taking place outside the A Entrance at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center Feb. 8, 2023.

“You know, I thank God every morning and every night that I'm here,” said Mark Stapleton of Viera. “And, you know, great people like this, like the staff here, and the blood here.”

“It’s emotional – he’s alive because of what we did,” said Dr. Zenoni, who added, “And because someone donated blood.”

He called blood donors “the silent heroes.”

“When you leave [the Big Red Bus or any donation center], you are literally helping give somebody a second chance at life,” said Susan Forbes, a Vice President at OneBlood. “The power to save somebody's life is running through your veins.”

HEAR about Mark Stapleton’s terrible accident and amazing recovery in Florida Today here.

READ the story in Space Coast Daily here.

WATCH Yahoo! News / WFTV Eyewitness News below.