Should You Have The Right To Choose Your Blood Donor? With Liz James

What if you needed a blood transfusion—but wanted a say in whose blood you received?

In this episode, pharmacist and patient advocate Liz James shares the remarkable story behind Blessed By His Blood, a nonprofit cooperative helping people locate compatible directed blood donors and navigate a system that can make receiving blood from someone you know surprisingly difficult.

Liz explains why she walked away from a successful pharmacy career in 2020, how her commitment to informed consent eventually led her into blood-donor advocacy, and why she believes patients should have the right to choose their blood donors in non-emergency situations. She takes us inside the blood industry, raising questions about blood storage, testing, medications and other substances that may be present in donor blood, and the financial incentives she believes are contributing to resistance to directed donation.

She also discusses the legislative effort to protect directed donor blood, including the first successful law in Idaho, and shares moving stories of families Blessed By His Blood has helped—including a transplant patient and two young girls who depend on regular transfusions.

Finally, Liz explains how families can make a plan before a transfusion is ever needed and why becoming your own advocate may be one of the most important steps you can take to protect your health.

WAPF Ad: The Greatest Gift documentary. Visit https://www.westonaprice.org/film/ to learn more and help support this important film. Your support is so greatly appreciated!

To learn more about Liz James, visit Blessed By His Blood

Join the Nourishing Our Children closed Facebook group

Check out our sponsors:

OPTIMAL CARNIVORE: Use code WESTON10 for 10% off.

EARTHLEY: Use code WISE10 for a special discount for the Wise Traditions audience.

—

Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

Episode Transcript

Within the below transcript the bolded text is Kendall Nelson and the regular text is Liz James.

Most of us give very little thought to the blood flowing through our veins until the day we or someone we love desperately needs a transfusion. At that moment, we’re often told to trust that the blood supply is safe and that we have little say over where the blood comes from. What if patients wanted more choice? Should they have the right to choose blood from someone they know and trust? Why has that option become increasingly difficult to obtain?

This is episode 597, and our guest is Liz James. Liz is a licensed pharmacist with more than 30 years of experience in retail and specialty pharmacy. In 2020, she walked away from her successful pharmacy career rather than compromise her deeply held convictions. Soon afterward, she founded Blessed By His Blood, a faith-based nonprofit that helps connect patients with directed or known blood donors while advocating for informed consent and the right to access directed donor blood.

She also works with lawmakers across the country to help protect those rights through state legislation. In this episode, Liz explains how blood donation and transfusion systems work, what directed donor blood is, and why many patients are finding it increasingly difficult to access. We discuss the concerns some people have about today’s blood supply, the legal and ethical questions surrounding informed consent, and the growing effort to protect a patient’s right to choose whose blood they receive. Liz also shares the remarkable stories of families she’s helped through Blessed By His Blood.

Before we get into the conversation, I’d like to share some exciting news. The Weston A. Price Foundation is producing its first feature-length documentary, The Greatest Gift, and I’m so honored to serve as its director. We’ve already begun production and now raising the funds needed to bring this important film to audiences around the world. The Greatest Gift is a powerful journey into the forgotten wisdom of Dr. Price. Revealing how the foods that once built vibrant, healthy generations may hold the key to reversing today’s epidemic of chronic disease, infertility, and declining health.

This project is being made possible through the generosity of people like you. We’d be so grateful for your support. To learn more or make a tax-deductible donation, visit Weston A. Price Foundation. Every contribution, no matter the size, helps bring this project forward and brings us important story one step closer to the screen. Thank you for being part of it. Now, let’s welcome Liz James.

—

Liz, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.

I’m so happy that you’re here. I want to start by asking you to tell a little bit of a story. You were a holistic-minded pharmacist for a long time, but you weren’t always in that situation. In your 30s, you broke your wrist and something happened. Can you tell me the story of how your journey began?

Discovering Traditional Healing Beyond Conventional Medicine

That was about ten years after I graduated from pharmacy school. I had been practicing traditional pharmacy and broke my wrist in a stupid farming accident. I literally tripped over the wheelbarrow and that broke my wrist. At the time, I was then working in the pharmacy, counting pills with my wrist in a cast. On two separate occasions, I had two different women come up to me and say, “You should be drinking raw milk,” when they found out I’d broken my wrist. The first lady said that.

I immediately kept my pharmacy face on but in my mind, I was thinking, “You could die from drinking raw milk.” The second time was a couple weeks later, and a different lady said the same thing, like almost exactly the same thing. I heard the Lord say, “I told you the second time. You may not get an option for the third time.”

From there, I found a book called The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. That book changed my life, and it also led me to Weston A. Price. I joined a Weston A. Price chapter. My chapter leader was Kathy Harris, who I owe so much to. She helped me get started with dairy cows ultimately. I have my own dairy cows now. I drink raw milk, and I hand milk.

You went on, you were still a pharmacist. You became more holistically minded, but there came a point where you just could no longer do the job you were doing. Please tell us about that.

Wise Traditions - Kendall Nelson | Liz James | Directed Blood Donation — Directed Blood Donation: True patient advocacy requires standing up for informed consent, even when it means stepping away from a conventional medical career.

Over time, it wasn’t just about the raw milk. It was about the food, and then it became about, what about the drugs? What did that mean? I was constantly educating myself. I had so many times when fellow pharmacists and pharmacy techs were like, “Why are you still here?” I was like, “The Lord hasn’t led me away yet.” I feel like at this point, I was finding ways to still be helpful indirectly while still honoring my employer. At the same time, giving people the opportunity to have informed choices.

Standing Firm On Informed Consent And Conscience

When 2020 came around with COVID and all of that, I had already done the research, and I knew in my soul that there was no way I was going to be able to participate in that. I also didn’t know how I was not going to participate in it. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to receive the shot. I knew I was not going to be able to give the shot as a matter of conscience.

Literally on September 9th of 2020, when I was driving home from work, God said very clearly, “You’re out.” I knew then that it was non-negotiable. That was the end. That was on a Tuesday. That Friday, I gave my notice with my husband’s blessing. Which also was a big deal to walk away from a very healthy six-figure salary and not knowing exactly what was going to be next for us.

That is a big deal and a brave move for sure. You talked about informed consent. I know you stayed in the pharmacy industry for many years after you had this awakening. Why were you staying in it at that point before the messenger RNA vaccines or shots came out?

I always said, “God hasn’t told me to leave yet.” I felt like there was a lot that I was able to do on behalf of doing the right thing. There’s so much about pharmacy that people don’t understand. The combination of insurance and something called MTM, which is Medication Therapy Management, that combination literally dictates in so many ways how and what a patient is on. To give an example, if somebody was on a diabetic medication and they were on insurance.

The insurance would command that the pharmacy perform phone calls and try to get diabetic patients on statins as an addition to their therapy. That’s dangerous. For one thing, their theory or what they’re saying is people who are diabetic are more likely to have cholesterol issues. The reality is, when you get a diabetic patient on a statin, then that makes their blood sugar even more erratic among other things. I could talk about this for hours, but that’s just a quick example.

I would go in and we’re forced to make these phone calls while still honoring my employer, but also it’s my job to give informed consent. They don’t talk about that in MTM phone calls. I would just say, “I’m calling because your insurance company has asked me to make this phone call. You have the right to refuse anything I’m saying. You also have a right to informed consent. These are the things that could happen if you’re on this medication. Now, your insurance company has asked me to ask you if you’d like to be on this medication. I just want to make sure that you understand why you might need to do your research, too, before you say yes or no.” An example like that.

Would you feel comfortable then saying to the person that you were calling that the company is asking you to call and talk about statins and your cholesterol? Would you send them somewhere like to the Weston A. Price Foundation, where they could learn about cholesterol and the fact that high cholesterol is not what they say it is?

I would send them there or to the Weston A. Price website or I would send them a little more information. Even in some situations, if I knew the client or patient well enough, I would give them my home phone number or my personal cell phone number and say, “I’d love to have a conversation with you when I’m at home,” and be able to have a very frank conversation after hours. I was there trying to do the best job that I could do while still honoring my employer, but also putting precedent on patients’ rights and patient advocacy.

These patients were lucky to have you being the one that made the phone call. You quit your job and you left your well-paying job. What happened? Where were you going to go next?

Again, that was September of 2020. I was already working as a side in holistic health coaching. I’m certified as a National Society health coach, which is a certification limited to licensed health professionals. I do lab work analysis and was trying to help people find their way outside of what I call pharmacy Babylon. I thought, “I’m just going to do this full time. I’m going to grow my business that way.” About five months after I quit, the Lord came to me early one morning, and He said, “If you have no country, you’ll have no business.”

I sat on that for a little while and thought about what he was asking me to do and not understanding. I went ahead and took a six weeks constitution course. After that, I took an eight weeks biblical citizenship course, then I ended up teaching as a volunteer biblical citizenship course that very course. Both in person and online. During that time, I found out that my precinct that I live in did not have a precinct chair, so I ended up becoming a precinct chair.

Preserving The Right To Directed Donor Blood

All that plays a very major role in what’s going on now in my life and how we’re doing things because I needed that step into the political realm for what was aligned next, what God had in store for the entire process. In May of ‘21, months after I had quit, God gave me another job. He woke me up early one morning again, and He said, “I need for you to preserve the blood.” I knew immediately what that meant. My years in pharmacy school coincided with the HIV era.

Walking away from a corporate career becomes necessary when medical mandates clash with personal ethics.

Not just that, but during that time, I’d had a surgery. It wasn’t minor-minor, but it was significant enough that my mom and my brother both had donated blood for me because the blood supply was not safe at that time. It was acknowledged and it was common practice for doctors to ask their patients if they had donors that they would like to bring in that were a match for them. That’s what my family had done for me.

For five months, I knew what God was asking me to do, but I’m a pharmacist. Blood is not my specialty. I didn’t know how I was going to do this. I was looking for the person that was going to do this. I was going to be either a right-hand man or a right-hand girl, as it so would be. Searching high and low, I figured it was going to be somebody well known and somebody with a lot of money because that’s what I thought it would take would be, would be all of that.

In September of ‘21, literally almost a day to the day that I quit my pharmacy job, God and I were having this other conversation. I was like, “Why is nobody doing this?” He very quickly responded, “Because you’re not.” It was very much a literal, “Come to Jesus moment.” I was like, “I will do this. I don’t know why you’re choosing me. I think you’re making a mistake.” God doesn’t make mistakes, but anyway, that was my thought at the time. I said, “I don’t have fame. I definitely don’t have the fortune. I don’t have the face for this. I’m nobody.” He said, “That’s exactly why I’m choosing you because this will be about me and what we are accomplishing. Not just about the person that’s doing it.”

It was dead silence. I didn’t hear anything after that, but I did reach out to a group of about 250 friends. We had a chat going on, and before I lost my nerve, I said, “I’m going to be doing this thing. I don’t know what it’s going to look like at all, but I need some help.” I had seven precious friends that stepped forward and said that they would help. That became our original board of directors for BBHB.

Tell us what BBHB is. What was it that you were asking your friends to do with you?

At that time, honestly, I didn’t even have the name BBHB. BBHB stands for Blessed By His Blood. That is our organization. I just knew we were going to be doing a thing. That thing involved preserving the blood and preserving the right to direct donor blood somehow, some way. I did not know how we were going to do that. In November of ‘21, I was at the Weston A. Price Conference in Allen. I only live about 45 minutes from that conference location.

I was late because I was milking my cows that day. I walked into the conference a little bit late and I opted to go into the Exhibitors Hall instead of the first session because I’d missed so much of it already. I was walking around the first session and I talked to one lady. I don’t even remember her name, but that one lady triggered something and the Lord just dropped a download. He showed me exactly how we were going to do this. It was going to be an organization that was a cooperative. Not a 501(c)(3).

We were going to be a hundred percent nonprofit and we still are, by the way. We were going to be based out of Minnesota. Not out of Texas. That made no sense to me because I didn’t know a soul from Minnesota. Our name was going to be Blessed By His Blood. He gave me the logo. We’re going to be modeled after John 15:13, which is, “No man has greater love than to give his life for his friend.” Meaning that we work together as a community and we help one another out in times of need. Literally, that day was the true inception of, “This is how it’s going to go.”

Help me understand. You’re not an actual blood bank but what service do you provide? If I was to become a member of your organization, how could I help? How could I benefit?

We are not a blood bank. To be a blood bank, it requires enormous hurdles and lots of money, like millions and millions of dollars. How we’ve gotten around the process of that is blood banks exist all across the United States. We work with blood banks. They don’t know that we are working with them, other than if they’re reading this conversation. We help match for our members. If we have a member who needs blood, that member reaches out to us and opens up a case.

We have a database and we begin reaching out to our members who we know are a blood type match. All of our members need to know their blood type. They don’t have to know their blood type when they first sign up. If they need help, and if we need help from them, we get to know their blood type at some point. We also teach our members how to talk to their doctor so as not to create a hostile environment because you can do that in a hot minute if you’re not careful.

If, for some reason, they’re in a situation or in an area where we’ve already determined that there is a potential problem, this could be something that we would not be able to help facilitate. If we were not able to help, the reason most likely is because the blood bank is not friendly. This is where it gets very interesting. There are some doctors who will refuse to write orders, and there are some hospitals who refuse to carry out orders that are written by the doctor, which is its own concern. They’re not allowing the doctor to practice medicine.

Even more concerning that there are blood banks who are flat out denying the right to direct donor blood as a corporate policy. Our question is, and to date, we don’t have an answer for this. How is it that a corporate entity can practice medicine as a blanket policy? Knowing what’s right for every individual patient. That’s a big problem. Their policy is based on profit and not on patient care.

It sounds like there are some obstacles. If you were to guess, why is it that the blood industry is fighting so hard to keep blood donations anonymous and not from known donors?

Understanding Blood Banking And Storage Lesion Risks

I have no problem with the anonymous part of it because from the 40,000-foot view. Anonymous, they don’t want the recipient to know who the donor is or the donor to know who the recipient is. I have no problem with that. The problem is that with anonymous donor blood, there’s several problems. Anonymous donor blood typically stays in the blood bank, and it can be used for up to about 42 days. As blood ages in the bag, it starts dying. It basically is necrotizing. Blood is a tissue. That necrotizing is called storage lesion.

The older the bag of blood is, the greater the storage lesion, which also corresponds with the greater the risk of a transfusion adverse event or reaction. The other thing is, looking at this broadly, if you have an anonymous donor. The average age of an anonymous donor is about 50 years old. The average American is not healthy either. Would you rather have blood from a 25-year-old athlete who’s not on any medication or somebody who’s 50 years old, sedentary, and on four medications? That’s an issue as well.

The other thing is that the blood industry tests for twelve things. There’s a lot more than twelve things that can ride in on a blood transfusion. Not just talking about viruses or bacteria, but also medications. Whether that be prescribed medications or illicit medications, or heavy metals that’s toxins. Basic lifestyle choices too. You’re wondering why they’re fighting this. We wonder that, too. On July 27th, the United States Red Cross issued that we’re in a historic need for blood, like the second time it’s ever happened.

At one point, they’re issuing this, but at the other point, they are actively denying the right to direct donor blood. Direct donors don’t give blood on a regular basis. In fact, most of them have never given blood before or only very rarely have given blood. They’re giving blood because they have some emotional or physical tie or community tie to the person that needs the blood. Direct donors are adding to the blood supply.

Uncovering The Hidden Economics Of The Blood Industry

If that’s the case, and there is, in fact, an extreme deficit of blood, then why are so many of the blood banks trying to block this? It ultimately comes down to control and profit. This is what gets lost. The blood industry is a very quiet industry, but it is a $32 billion-a-year industry. United States blood is the 9th leading export in our country, like past gold and coal. Number one, that’s a commodity. Blood is a commodity. We give it away altruistically. Once it goes into a bag, it has become a commodity.

The other thing is that blood is sold to the pharmaceutical industry. It’s sold for research, and then it’s sold overseas as well. The United States supplies 70% of the world’s blood products. When we donate blood, like if I’m donating to you. As a direct donor, my bag of blood now belongs to you. You will have to pay for it, believe it or not. Even though they’re going to ask you to pay whatever the contracted fee is at the hospital, which is usually between $300 and $700.

If they were able to sell my blood to the pharmaceutical industry for their biologic production, for research, or overseas. Depending on the quality of my blood or the characteristics of my blood, meaning, like, if I say I’m O positive, I have these nine antigens. I’m CMV negative. As a female, I’ve never been pregnant and I’m very healthy. They can see all of that in my blood. What if I’m unvaccinated? That bag of blood could command a bidding price of $3,000, $8,000, or $10,000. I don’t know. This is all the information that is veiled in what we can’t see, but we know what’s happening.

It sounds like if I go and I donate blood anonymously, it could go anywhere, including to research. It could go for $400 a bag to $8,000 a bag.

It depends on what somebody sees your blood as worth. The thing is, if I’m donating directly to you, they can see all of that. They don’t have the authority anymore to pull that bag and say, “We can make more money off of this bag of blood by either parting it out.” Meaning breaking it all up into packed red blood cells, plasma, platelets, etc.

You started the blood resource center and now you got another message. The other message was to go do something else. What are you trying to do in Congress?

I hope to get to Congress. That’s my ultimate goal because we need help in DC. We’re working state by state. I thought my plate was full and he was just getting started, but in January of ‘23, God asked me to go and protect the blood. What that meant for me, I live in Texas, was the first thing I did after sitting on that for a few days. I was trying to figure out what exactly He was asking me to do, was go to the state Capitol and start talking to representatives and Senators in our state of Texas to try to find somebody who will draft legislation. That ensures that the patient has the right to choose whose blood they receive in non-emergency situations.

God, again, was very clear about that. It’s to be a very broad but comprehensive and simple bill. It’s so easy to understand, the patient has the right to choose what goes into their blood. Senator Bob Hall in Texas is such a hero. He immediately saw the vision and knew exactly what needed to be put together. Kendall, you know, with all of your legislative work, how amazing the fact that, coming in February, getting a bill in March for a legislative session that ends in May. That we were able to get it through the Senate in 2023 with a 28-to-2 vote.

Blood is a major export and commercial commodity. Explore how industry incentives impact patient donation options.

Get it through the committee. In the House, and get it on calendars. We made it all the way to the end. The blood industry slowed it down a little bit at the end. It died on the floor on the last day without ever being heard. As the legislative session works, you have to start all over again in the next legislative session. In Texas, we meet every other year. I had to wait till 2025 to do this again. In the meantime, we started this in March of ’23. In April of ‘23, Carter Blood Center, which is the largest blood donation center in Texas, made a public announcement, and they said that they were no longer honoring direct donations.

I will never know whether God knew that this was coming. He set my steps or whether Carter reacted as a result of seeing that bill come in. I don’t know. What I do know is that we are now using this bill, which still has not passed in Texas, by the way. In 2025, it has done very well. There’s something that’s happening behind closed doors where the bill gets held up late, then it dies on the very last day without being heard. We know the bill will pass if it has the option to be heard. It’s these invisible forces that are keeping it from happening.

We’re going again in 2027, and we’re working very hard to make sure that 2027 is Texas’s year. Texas’s bill is now being used in twenty different states as a basis for working on these bills, including some very blue states. This is a nonpartisan bill, by the way. This is very much a patient freedom right to choose, but I’ve got a couple of blue states where I have some Democratic legislators who are sponsoring this bill, which is so beautiful.

Protecting Patient Choice Through State Legislation

Idaho became our first state to pass Texas’s bill. It’s their bill, not ours. Representative Chris Bruce, who is amazing in Idaho, he passed, and worked so hard. I started working with him in 2024 and in March of 2026, your Idaho bill passed. Idaho is now the first state in the United States with a bill that protects patients’ rights to choose whose blood they receive.

You’re making me proud to be from Idaho. This is a good thing. As you well know, Idaho also has the Idaho Medical Freedom Act. Which ensures that you’re not forced to take any medical product or device from in perpetuity. This is a wonderful state. You do have a story about Idaho, though, that was not so wonderful during the pandemic. Can you tell me about that story where you helped facilitate getting a patient out of Idaho to somewhere else?

It is a full circle here. In Idaho, one of our very first blood donor recipients that we had was involved with a family in Idaho that was being denied a lot of things. Not just the right to have direct donor blood. It involved a transplant patient. This transplant patient was requiring her, if she was going to go through with this in Idaho. They were requiring her to get vaccinated, and that was not something that they wanted to do.

There was a group that reached out to us and said, “Can you help us at all?” The family ended up going to Florida to receive the transplant. We were able to help them in Florida get the blood that they needed, and they were able to facilitate the transplant without having to get vaccinated down there. I love the full circle of how Idaho was our first victory indirectly, in terms of helping somebody, but also our first victory in terms of getting a bill across the finish line.

That’s wonderful. You’ve been extremely helpful advocating for patients and starting this organization, Blessed By His Blood. You also personally give blood. Can you tell me a story about that?

I hope I can do this without crying.

I hope I don’t cry, too.

When I first went to the Capitol, literally, I lived about five hours from the Capitol. It’s a drive to get down there and back. It was probably the third or fourth time that I had been down there in 2023. I met a family who have two little girls who are blood transfusion dependent. They were there because Carter had turned off the right to direct donor blood, even though their hematologist had written orders for them that these girls needed direct donor blood in order to thrive. When I say thrive, they thrive. They are cheerleaders. They run track. They’re straight A students.

If they don’t get their direct donor blood, they get sick. They literally can’t get out of bed sometimes. They’re older now. I’m not sharing a story that’s not available. It’s been public testimony in Texas. As it has turned out, that meeting has created a deep friendship. As it has also turned out, I am an exact match for one of the girls. The other thing, too, as it has turned out. My husband is also an exact match for one of the girls. It’s not just about being O positive.

When I talked about earlier, I was talking about the nine antigen. It’s a nine antigen match, which is not that easy to find. The fact that my husband and I both have nine antigen matches for one of the little girls is such a beautiful thing. I donate blood every two and a half months. We walk the talk. I am not the only board member in BBHB who donates fairly regularly. We’ve got other board members that have stepped forward and donated. We very much walk the talk.

It’s so beautiful. Thank you for doing that. On your website, you talk about the very first thing when you go to your website is that you match people who are messenger RNA-free with recipients. As we start to wrap up, can you just tell me why that’s so important to you?

We believe very strongly, based upon real science, that tech messenger RNA has the ability to change DNA. We believe that DNA is created the way God intended and does not need to be mutated and changed into something different. We’ve heard stories. I just got off the phone with a lady who shared the story of her husband’s death following a blood transfusion and what that looked like.

We know that this is a problem. In 2025, Dr. Elkadry and Dr. Cooper Wasser, who are from Tufts Medical Center University, Tufts University, and Brown University. They presented their findings to ACIP, which is the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. In that committee hearing, one of their findings was that the messenger RNA does stay in the blood for up to 23 months. That cutoff date of 23 months is only because the studies ended at 23 months. Not because that was the end of it all.

In their final findings, one of the things that they wrote and presented was that there needs to be blood and tissue-based monitoring. I reached out to them and asked if that was presented in such a way so that they actively understood the people in Washington, DC, understand that blood and tissue-based monitoring is not happening in the blood banks. Without that, it’s up to us to continue to protect ourselves as we have been protecting ourselves, for everybody who stands up for informed choice, informed consent, and doing what’s best for our own bodies.

If our readers want to protect themselves, what’s the absolute best way for them to do this?

In order to protect themselves, you have to have a plan just like you would have a will or a trust or anything else. You have to do the forethought and know what your plan is. BBHB’s membership, whether you join us or not, you could do this on your own. You could find your group of people. We are $25 a year, not a month. We’re $25 a year to be a member. Kids under eighteen are free. As adults, children with disabilities are also free, but you’ve got to have a plan.

You’ve got to be able to know how to talk to the doctors, how to set up and coordinate. Kim, our case manager, who’s also a retired critical care nurse who volunteers. I’m going to say at least probably 30 to 40 hours a week of her time, not including her team, who are also nurses and also volunteers as well, helping people walk through this process. Also, we have what we call our friend and foe list. That grows every day. We know if we can’t work in an area or can’t work with a hospital, where we could send somebody where they could get what they needed.

This sounds like an easy way. Go to Blessed By His Blood, pay $25 a year, and you will have your hand held, and you will have an advocate for you in case you ever need a blood transfusion.

If you’re able. If some people cannot ever donate like if they’ve had hepatitis or whatever. You might get a phone call from us someday asking if you would be willing to share a pint of your blood with somebody in our community who’s in need. That’s ultimately what this is all about. We’re here to help one another.

It’s a beautiful thing you’re doing. I want to let our readers know that you’re going to be speaking at the Weston A. Price Conference, the Wise Traditions Conference that’s happening in October 2026. Hopefully, everybody will come and hear you speak and get to meet you in person. I want to ask you one final question that I like to pose at the end of the episode. That is, if the reader could do just one thing to improve their health, what would you suggest they do?

Becoming Your Own Best Health Advocate

Without a doubt, I would say the most important thing you could do is to strive to always be your own advocate and never rely on what somebody else is telling you. Don’t believe everything I’m telling you. Go and do your own research. Dig deep. Two, find people that you do trust. We know that the government is not always in our best interest.

That if somebody has a way to make money off of something, that’s usually not in your best interest necessarily. Quite frankly, the bigger an organization that is for profit, the greater the risk that it’s not in your best interest. Listen to what you discern, to what the Holy Spirit’s telling you, and take care of yourself by being your own best advocate.

Liz, that’s wonderful advice. I thank you so much for being with us. I can’t wait to see you in Washington, DC during the conference.

Don’t wait for a crisis to make your health plan. Become your own advocate and safeguard your family’s medical choices.

I can’t either. I’m so looking forward to it. It feels like full circle from however many years ago when I was 33 and I met Weston A. Price for the first time, and they changed my life. I hope I’m able to change other people’s lives, too.

Thank you so much, Liz.

Thank you.

—

Our guest was Liz James. To learn more about her work, visit Blessed By His Blood, where you’ll find information about her non-profit organization, educational resources, and ongoing efforts to help protect patients’ access to directed donor blood. Our conversation explored an issue that few of us think about until it becomes deeply personal. Liz helped us better understand how the blood donation and transfusion system works and what directed donor blood is and why many patients are seeking greater transparency, informed consent, and the ability to make decisions about the blood they receive.

She also shared the inspiring stories of families she’s helped through Blessed By His Blood and the growing movement to protect patient choice through education, advocacy, and legislation. Perhaps the greatest takeaway from this episode is that informed consent should extend to every aspect of our medical care, including the blood we receive, whether or not you ever need a blood transfusion. Protecting the right to make informed medical decisions is something that affects us all.

As Liz’s work reminds us, one person’s willingness to step forward can make all the difference in another person’s life. If you’re enjoying the show, we’d be grateful if you take a moment to leave a rating or review wherever you tune in. Your feedback helps others discover the show and become part of this growing community. Thank you for spending this time with us. Be well, be nourished, and be free.

Important Links

About Liz James

After 33 years, Liz left the traditional pharmacy industry in 2020 because she refused to advocate for the Covid injection. A career Pharmacist, she felt strongly that administering the shot was a violation of care practices, and as a health care worker, doing so would violate the “do no harm” oath she had taken. Liz has worked behind the scenes for over a decade helping people to both safely navigate the medical system, and to disentangle themselves from it, whenever possible. Liz supports and teaches a more holistically minded approach to health and wellness, which has been a catapult for founding Blessed By His Blood. When the Lord gave her direction for BBHB, she combined her faith in Him, her love for humanity, and the help of 6 very special people, and BBHB was born.