It's In You To Give

Yesterday, I finally fulfilled a wish of mine and over came a fear; I donated blood. I have been wanting to donate blood for years, but have never gotten around to it, mainly because it made me a bit nervous. I have always wanted to know my blood type and according to my doctor, he can do the test, but it will cost $100 to do it. My question was, is my blood type not on on file? What if I am suddenly bleeding to death, are you going to take the time to test me then?? This made no sense to me, besides, I could give blood and help someone out while finding out the answer.

Last month, I lost my baby nephew Calvin to a complication after extensive heart surgery to repair his heart defects. When he came out of the 14 hour surgery, the part of his heart the surgeons had been operating on did not restart and as a result, he was put on life support. In order to prime the life support machine, 14 units of blood were needed as his little body did not have enough of its own blood. The fact that 14 perfect strangers had donated blood which had given baby Calvin a chance at life was so amazing and beautiful to me. I realized it was something I had to do.

The day I was at the blood donor clinic it was packed; I was at the clinic for 2.5 hours total. The process went just fine and I was told I did very well, lots of people don't donate a whole unit on their first trip, plus my vein was easy to access (amazing), and my blood came out perfectly and was full of iron and ready to share. I was told that my blood will help three people as they separate out plasma, platelets, and blood. I have a bit of a bruise on my arm, but my heart is so happy it was able to help out others. I am actually looking forwad to my next donation date in March. There is a waiting period between donations to give your body time to recuperate the lost blood (2 cups) and red blood cells.

I told the nurse at the clinic the reason I was giving blood was to honour my nephew. She thought the story was very sad, but touching. She told me a story about a grandmother who was sitting in the same chair earlier that day donating blood because her 8 year old grandson was in a sledding accident, hit a tree, suffered brain damage, and passed away. I guess they often hear sad stories like that.

To sum up the experience, I feel proud of myself for overcoming the slight fear, for helping to save potentially 3 lives, and for honouring Calvin.