Today I saved a life. Maybe even two or three! (Member Advice On Blood Donation)

Member Name: moog27

Product:	Member Advice On Blood Donation
Date:	31/10/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saves lives, usually painless, only takes an hour of your time, makes you feel good

Disadvantages: for some people there can be slight discomfort

Today I saved a life. Maybe even two or three! I did this by donating blood.

Blood donation is something I have always been very aware of. Both my parents and my Grandparents had always donated blood when they were able to and I remember going to the sessions with my dad when I was younger and the nurse would let me have a squidge of the bag of blood! Perhaps this is why I have absolutely no issues with blood or needles!

To donate blood you need to be between 17 and 65, in good health and not pregnant. There are many other factors that can effect your eligibility to give blood, such as tattoos, piercings, medications, if you have been abroad etc. However it is important to note that these do not necessarily rule you out, the nurse will decide whether you are eligible or not when taking all factors into account.

I signed up to be a blood donor as soon as I turned 17 but due to long term illness and various medications I was not able to donate. As soon as I was able to, I gave my first donation which was early this year. Since then I have donated twice more. You can donate blood every 16 weeks, however todays donation was a couple of weeks early as blood stocks are particularly low so they were calling people in a bit early.
Blood donation is a pretty selfless act as you aren't going to get anything for it other than a reward pack at the milestones (10, 20, 30 etc). It is very easy to take blood supplies for granted, like many, I assume that if I ever need blood then it will be there for me. Blood donation has recently become much more of an emotional issue for me. During the summer my Nan became very ill with an infection in her heart valve. Unfortunately they weren't able to treat it and she passed away on her 78th birthday. However, before she died she had required several blood transfusions. Ironically one of these was on the very day I had my appointment to donate blood (which also happened to be my 22nd birthday). As it was my birthday I nearly chose not to go to the session as I wanted to be able to have a few drinks in the evening and didn't think that would be so wise if I was missing a pint of blood. I would have felt too guilty not going and decided to postpone my birthday plans. Donating blood and knowing that at that very same time my Nan was receiving blood that someone had donated and that it was keeping her alive was a very strange and emotional feeling. It made it all very real. Thankfully there was enough blood there for my Nan when she needed it, but the only way there will be enough blood for us or the people we love if they need it is by more people donating. It is a simple, generally pain free experience and will only take up an hour of your time about three times a year.


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What happens in a session?
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The National Blood Service website gives a pretty good explanation of what will happen during a session and you can even watch a virtual donation to ease any worries you might have.

If you are already a donor then a letter will come through the post to tell you when the session near you is. With the letter will be your health check form that you can fill out before attending the session (this will save you quite a bit of time!). If you are a newbie then you can enrol online to get the forms in the post prior to the session, or you can just turn up and enrol at your local session.

When you arrive they take your paper work, give you a folder containing some information you need to read and you take a seat and wait to be called. Recently, they have also been issuing you with a pint of water at this point an ask you to drink as much of it as possible prior to donating. I think the main reason for this is that it is shown to decrease the possibility of you feeling dizzy or light-headed after donation.

If you have pre-booked your appointment then you shouldn't have to wait too long. You will soon be called into a cubicle type area where the nurse will check your details and go through some of the parts of your health questionnaire with you, addressing any issues that might arise. They ask you whether you are feeling healthy, check that you don't plan to do anything strenuous after donation (apparently skydiving is not recommended) and get you to sign the relevant consent form. Then they do the haemoglobin test to check that giving blood wont make you anaemic. This is done by pricking your middle finger and dropping a droplet of your blood in some pretty coloured liquid. If it sinks then you are good to give blood and if it floats then you wont be able to donate on this occasion and will be advised to up your iron levels. They put a plaster on your finger (unless you are allergic!) and sent you off to the next waiting area. This part of the process usually takes less than 5 minutes an the prick is pretty painless as it is all over with quickly!
As soon as a bed becomes available, you will be called over by a nurse. As you lay on the bed they will check again that they have your details right and ask which arm you usually donate from. This is up to you, although the tend to recommend that you use the opposite arm to your writing hand. They put a cuff (similar to the ones used to monitor blood pressure) around the top of your arm and check for an appropriate vein. Once they have located one, they release the pressure and clean the area for 30 seconds with a sterile wand. They then pump up the pressure again and ask you to make a fist while they insert the sterile needle and secure it with some tape. Obviously it is a needle going into your arm so you will feel a bit of a sharp scratch but it is very quick and to be honest it doesn't really hurt as long as they hit the vein straight away! The bags that the blood goes into is very clever and the first section of the bag collects the small bit of skin where the needle pierced and the first part of the blood which will be put into some tubes to be tested for things that would put the recipient at risk. Then the rest of the bag system collects the blood to be donated and is so fabulously well designed that the blood can be separated into its separate compenants without having to open the bag! It also contains an anticoagulant to stop your donated blood from clotting in the bag. They take just under a pint of blood from you and this take up to 10 minutes depending on how fast you bleed! During the donation, you just lay back, relax and open and close your fist to keep the blood flowing. This shouldn't hurt and it is actually quite nice to be able to take 10 minutes out of the day to just lay down and chill out!

Once the blood has been taken they remove the needle which doesn't hurt for me but some people feel a second of discomfort. Then they put a swab on your arm and ask you to hold it firmly for two minutes to stop the bleeding. Next they put a put a small dressing on it and tell you to keep this on for 6 hours or so. They no longer put on the bandages that used to get put on my parents in the olden days! They like you to sit up as soon as possible and as soon as you feel ready they send you over to the recovery area where you will be given tea, coffee or orange juice and biscuits or crisps to give you a bit of sugar which should stop you feeling faint. You should sit in the recovery area for about 15 minutes to make sure you are ok to go home, although today I felt absolutely fine so left after 5 minutes.


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How is my blood used?
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Whole blood is rarely used these days as it can be of much more benefit by breaking it up into its different components, meaning that my one donation could save more than one person!

The main components of blood are red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma. From my research it seems that these are used in the following ways:

Red blood cells - these are used primarily for treating anaemia as a result of illnesses like cancer and sickle cell disease. They are also used to replace red blood cells lost as a result of accidents, surgery, childbirth etc. Red blood cells only last for 35 days so it is important to have a constant supply of new blood being donated.The main function of red blood cells is to carry oxygen to the bodily tissues.

White blood cells - These are your bodies defence mechanism and donated white blood cells can be used to help patients with life-threatening infections in situations where their own body is unable to fight it.

Platelets - these can be particularly beneficial to patients who are suffering from bone marrow failure, leukaemia and for people following transplants or chemotherapy treatments. Platelets only last for 5 days, which again shows the importance of people donating regularly.

Plasma - The plasma is the yellow liquid that is left once the other components have been removed, but this in itself can then be broken down to provide albumin (which can be of use to people who have suffered severe burns) clotting factors (to help people whos blood does not clot properly) and immunoglobulins which are the proteins produced by your whiteblood cells to fight specific illnesses and nasties.


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The need for blood.
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Blood comes in four main groups: O, A, B and AB. Your blood group is dictated by the antigens on the outside of your red blood cells. If you are receiving blood then it is important that you receive blood that is a suitable match for your blood type otherwise the results could be fatal.
Some blood types are more common than others. Group O is the most common and therefore there is greater demand for it. However, it is also important to consider that for people with rarer blood types, there will therefore be less people donating that blood type, so it is just as important for those people to donate,

As I mentioned above, some components of blood only last for a few days, making it crucial for as many people to donate blood as possible to ensure that the stocks are high enough. An interesting statistic that I found on the National Blood Service website is that last year they collected 2.1 million blood donations from about 1.6 million donors. Although this sounds like a lot, they go on to explain that this actually only works out as 4% of the population, giving blood two or three times a year. I find this quite shocking considering all of us would want blood to be available for us if we needed it. I have been trying to convince a friend of mine to sign up but she has a fear of needles. I took her to my last session and she has now agreed that it cant be too painful if I am willing to keep going back so she is going to give it a go next time. I understand that some people will not be able to donate due to illness, age or severe phobias of blood or needles. But I am sure that there are plenty more people who could donate blood but for some reason don't.


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To conclude
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It does have to be said that some people don't have a smooth experience giving blood and I understand that this could be off-putting. But the majority of donors have a smooth, stress free and painless experience. Ok, so it does take an hour of your time (three times a year) but that is fairly insignificant when you consider the fact that you are literally saving lives. I would love to be able to thank the people who donated the blood that kept my Nan alive for as long as possible. She herself had donated until she was too old to do so and I intend to follow in her footsteps. We all hear the slogan; "Do something amazing, give blood" but it seems that not enough of us actually take that step towards saving lives.

I think it is also important that we educate our children about the importance of giving blood. Like I said at the start of this review, my childhood experiences of watching my parents donate blood and seeing it as a very positive experience is what has led me on to donate myself. If children can be engaged with and interested in the process as well as learning about its importance then they are more likely to donate once they are old enough.

So if you don't already, then please at least consider donating blood. It really doesn't hurt and it is so important that enough of us do it. Even if you feel a moment of discomfort, you will be left feeling good about what you have done.
Thanks for reading.

Summary: It is actually quite painless to save lives. Go do it!