A short while ago I did something amazing; I gave blood! Both of
my parents have given blood for as long as I can remember, and I wanted to the
same as soon as I could but I wasn’t allowed to until 6 months after I’d been
to Uganda because of the possibility of me having malaria.
I recommend giving blood to anyone who can – it’s an amazingly worthwhile
thing to do, and it put a smile on face for the rest of the day – you might
have saved someone’s life!
When you go to donate you complete a questionnaire while you drink
a pint of water, (i.e. have you had sexual relations with anyone who might be
HIV positive in the last 6 months etc), and then they have a little “bullet
capsule” or lancet which stabs you in the finger (middle finger of your right
hand). They take a drop, and put it into one of two solutions (green or blue)
to decide whether or not you have enough iron in your blood. Too little and
giving blood could make you anaemic which is obviously not good. Your drop of
blood falls in, and if it doesn’t sink in fifteen seconds you can’t donate.
After this there’s a short wait until there’s a bed free. I asked
for a left armed bed because I had to write an essay later but they aren’t
particularly bothered which arm it comes out of. They wrap a blood pressure
cuff around your arm, pump to restrict circulation, and select a vein. They put
in the needle, hook you up to a bag, and leave you. The bag rests in a tray
which rocks continuously. I asked the nurses about this and they said that the
bags contained an anticoagulant which stops the blood from clotting. The nurses
used to have to squeeze the bags themselves, which meant that they could only
attend to one donor at a time – now they can have up to four donors per nurse,
which means more people can donate quicker.
Meanwhile, they told me I had to keep opening and clenching my
hands, and crossing my legs over, to keep blood moving around the body. They took
470ml, a little under a pint, and then I was free to go. The needle coming out
was the most painful part of the whole experience, but even that didn’t really
hurt. I was given a drink and a biscuit and then I could go.
I really enjoyed the whole experience and urge anyone who reads
this to give it a go. I’ve already organised to take a friend of mine as soon
as she’s 17!
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