Dec. 5, 2025
After more than 20 years in the Army and Coast Guard, Wayne Kidd returned home to Kentucky in 2009 hoping to reconnect with family and make up for time spent serving his country around the world.
Sensing that retirement could foster a habit of idleness after being on the go for much of his life, Wayne wanted to be intentional about carving out time for his loved ones. To spend time with his brother Jim, Wayne joined his bowling league.
In search of finding something similar with his other brother, Johnny, the Kidd brothers bonded over blood donation.
“I'd spent most of my adult life away from my family, and I missed that,” Wayne said. “We started looking for appointment-type settings, ways we could arrange on the calendar to meet every month no matter what, and we'd see each other. For John and me, it was donating platelets.”
Every two weeks, Wayne, who lives in Frankfort, picks up Johnny in Georgetown and drives him to Kentucky Blood Center’s Frankfort location. They spend a little time together catching up, joking with one another, bantering – even competing during the donation process.
“We keep track of how many donations we have,” Wayne said. “Every time we come, ‘What's my number? What's my iron count?’ And we try to control every bit of it we can to maximize the donation. We try to do a double-unit donation of platelets every time. That's our goal. And if we both get our goal, we give four units to the community, which is amazing.”
Because of the apheresis process – a medical procedure that removes specific components from blood (in this case, platelets) and returns the rest to the donor – a platelet donation can take two to three hours from registration to refreshment.
Bonding to do some good. Having consistent platelet donors like Johnny and Wayne is critical for the healthcare system. Platelets, the blood component that aids in the clotting process, benefit people with leukemia and other types of cancer, burn patients, accident victims and transplant recipients. But because platelets have a short shelf life – they must be used within seven days of a donation – the need is constant.
That’s where the Kidd brothers’ commitment makes a huge difference. While making purposeful time for one another, they’ve combined to make nearly 500 donations with Kentucky Blood Center. The impact of the two brothers alone has touched the lives of thousands.
“We're spending time together, but we're also giving to somebody that needs it,” Johnny said. “That’s the most important thing overall.”
The Kidd brothers both speak glowingly about the process of donating with KBC. They say it’s an easy, efficient and enjoyable process with the staff at the Frankfort location. It doesn’t hurt to get a free shirt each time, many of which Wayne has used to make a giant quilt.
But both brothers say having a buddy to motivate one another – a collective push and pull to help others in need while having some fun – is what keeps them coming back.
“The process is very simple,” Johnny said. “You come in, you give a little bit of your time, but don't realize the lives that you can impact and save. Once you get into it and create that habit, you'll want to keep doing it because it’s a good feeling overall.”
