To celebrate the final season of Game of Thrones, HBO and the American Red Cross partnered to ask fans and blood donors to Bleed #ForTheThrone this March.
The partnership also included an immersive blood drive experience at this year’s SXSW in Austin, Texas. Here, fans bent the knee for the throne and showed their bravery by making a blood donation to help patients battling illness and injury.
But the partnership isn’t limited to SXSW attendees in Austin. Those who roll up their sleeve March 7-12 will receive an exclusive Game of Thrones t-shirt. And those who come to give through March 17 will be automatically entered for a chance to win one of five trips to the season 8 world premiere of Game of Thrones.
Every day, the Red Cross must collect over 13,000 blood and 2,500 platelet donations for patients in need. Lifesaving blood products are needed every two seconds in the U.S. to help treat accident victims, cancer patients, children with blood disorders and others.
With thousands of blood donations uncollected due to severe weather over the past couple of months, we urge all eligible individuals to roll up a sleeve and give blood as soon as possible to ensure critical medical treatments or emergency care are not delayed or canceled. Donating blood is a simple process and only takes about an hour from start to finish, and the actual donation lasts just 8-10 minutes.
As Game of Thrones fans gear up for the Season 8 premiere, you can still participate by making an appointment to donate blood for the thousands of patients in-need every day. Find a drive near you here.