Columns
November 15, 2008 12:21 AM
Marney Beck
So what’s the big deal about giving blood?
Why do only one in 60 of us donate the life-giving substance as a story pointed out in our Thursday issue?
Don’t worry, I’m not going to lecture anyone. Because I do know some of the reasons people don’t give blood.
Until I was in my early 30s, I never even considered it.
Sure, there’s the phobia of the needle, and after having been hospitalized as a child and needing to have frequent checks of my blood, I wasn’t keen to volunteer for the procedure.
Then I became a mom.
Not only was the birth of my daughter traumatic (emergency C-section, she had the cord around her neck), but at 10 weeks old she had pneumonia and staff at York Central Hospital saved her life.
Although in neither dramatic circumstance had she needed a blood transfusion, I suddenly became personally aware that if the need had arisen, I would have desperately wanted blood to be available for my child.
So, one day I gathered up my courage and decided to try to give blood. I went to a blood clinic in Aurora, where I lived at the time, and quietly but honestly admitted that I’d never given before.
Well, the fuss they made of me! First-time donors are always made to feel very special and important, and I was no exception. Yes, the needle was like an uncomfortable pinch for just a few seconds (really, seconds and it’s over) and then as long as you look somewhere else in the room, you don’t have to even see the needle in your arm or blood coming out. (To this day I still don’t look, so if I’m staring at you at an upcoming clinic, forgive me, I’m just taking my mind off my arm.)
And yes, I felt a little faint after the first donation and know now that I probably didn’t drink enough fluids beforehand, plus it had been a hot day.
But I proudly left the clinic after successfully making my first gift of life, knowing that up to three tiny babies like my daughter might have a future because I donated an hour of my time and a pint of blood.
So became an altruistic habit. I gave every summer when the urgent news bulletins were publicized in the media about the desperate need for blood and always at the holidays when I had the time and when the gift seemed to fit the season of sharing.
I received a thank-you keychain in the mail when I reached my tenth donation and of course it was the thought and the thanks that counted, not the little token.
I like the Hillcrest Mall permanent location, especially the comfortable chairs that are just like a big easy-chair.
Giving blood in the middle of the hallways of the busy mall was not my cup of tea — too much like a fishbowl with shoppers staring — and other locations had their drawbacks.
I recall once giving blood at the Lions Hall, a few blocks from my home.
Feeling quite the old hand at donating, I foolishly told my family I’d walk home afterwards. Well, of course, moderate to strenuous exercise is not what you should be doing right after donating, so I began to realize that not only was I bleeding slightly (sorry, to any of you squeamish readers out there), but I was also feeling a little faint. I had to sit down on my neighbour’s curb for a while before I could carry on and my husband and children were disgusted that I hadn’t called and asked for a ride home.
Then there was the funny situation the last time I donated — or should I say, tried to donate.
I turned up at Hillcrest with a magazine in hand, ready to read while I waited for my turn and while I relaxed afterward with my cookies and juice.
But no, my first tiny pinprick drop of blood told Blood Services staff my iron levels weren’t high enough. But they wouldn’t just let me go home, oh no.
They insisted I see a nurse, so I had to face the embarrassment of sitting on the sidelines with everyone staring at me, wondering whether I had some communicable disease and why my blood was being refused.
The nurse just told me what foods were high in iron and encouraged me to come back in a few months.
So I will.
And there ends my story — about how I wasn’t a blood donor, but then decided to try it and became a ‘regular’.
You should try it. You feel great about helping others in a very personal way, it doesn’t cost you a dime and gives you an excuse to relax and not do housework or yard chores for at least half a day!
I hope to see you at Hillcrest some time.
If you’re sporting the ‘first time donor’ sticker, I’ll happily make a fuss out of you.