The first time I gave blood I was seventeen, just old enough to donate at the high school blood drive. Well, I should say, the first time I tried to donate. The nurse missed the vein or scraped it up something bad because I started bruising immediately so they stopped the process. I looked like a junkie for the next few days, but I was very proud of my bruise. I had tried to give blood.
The next time I tried my red cell count was too low. Your hematocrit result has to be above a thirty-eight and I was just below that. I think once there was a time that I went and I was actually able to give a full pint. But, the last time I tried I was deferred because of a new piercing. That was in 1999.
My friend Becky is a universal plasma donor and had a ten o’clock appointment to donate at the hospital. Now, the original plan had been to go to Chicago for the day but since those plans had fallen through when she said, “Hey, Want to come give blood?” I figured I had nothing to lose. I already had the day off and if I gave blood with her she’d go to the art museum with me. Five years is a long time to not at least try to give blood.
Sixty percent of the United States population is eligible to donate blood or its components. Only about five percent do. Car accident victims who sustain massive amounts of blood loss can need upwards of fifty pints worth of transfusions. That’s a lot of blood. Sure, right now I'm making use of every last drop of blood circulating in my veins but, I’m a strapping, young lass. I can make more.
Now, Becky donates just platelets and plasma via a process called apheresis. The nurse explained to me that they hook you up to a machine that takes the blood, centrifuges it, removes the platelets and most of the plasma and then gives you back everything else. Then, she asked if I’d like to do that. I cringed. “Oh, no,” I said. “You can just have a whole pint.” They gave me a health questionnaire to fill out. I sat down and began circling Y’s and N’s.
Article comments
1 - Me
Cool article. It sounds like your friend Becky has a blood type O-negative, since as a universal donor anyone who needs blood can receive O-negative blood. Keep on donating! (In Canada, only about seven per cent of the Canadian population has a blood type of O-negative).