I recently reached a milestone that I share with you not to toot my own horn but to encourage you to get involved in the causes that resonate with you.
The first company I worked for after I graduated held an American Red Cross blood drive at our office location. I began donating, when I switched jobs over the years I was fortunate that they all also hosted blood drives a few times annually. When I started traveling frequently for my work, I kept missing the drives while I was on the road or in the air. I didn’t donate for ten years, then the pandemic hit and it seemed like the only thing I could do to aid in the fight against COVID. In March of 2020, I started donating blood to the Red Cross again, going about every two months. (You’re eligible to donate every 56 days.) I still have my original paper donor card but now everything is done through an app. You can find drives by date or location, answer the required pre-donation questions the day of your appointment, then track your blood through its journey from testing to storage to its final destination. I love knowing where my blood ends up. The Red Cross checks the local need first, but my suburbs-of-Philadelphia blood has gone as far as to Long Island and Detroit hospitals.
I completed my 40th donation last year, 40 pints equaling 5 gallons. A single donation can save up to three lives. If you don’t mind a quick stick, I encourage you to donate blood. It’s perfectly safe and a rare opportunity to give someone another birthday, another Christmas. I had been donating blood for many years prior to my mom being diagnosed with stage 4 gall bladder cancer. She was terminal but a blood transfusion was recommended to give her more strength and energy. She had always been interested as well as proud of my donating, but when it came time for her to receive donor blood, she was unsettled by the thought of blood inside her that was not her own. The nurse and I immediately exclaimed, “It is YOUR blood once the transfer starts!” She was not convinced. “I wish it was your blood,” she said. Before they began the transfusion, I held her hand. “I know. Me too. But at some point, somewhere, someone else’s mother will receive it.” And I remember that every time I lay down on the donation table.
My cumulative blood donation contribution to the Red Cross quite possibly saved 120 lives. I’ve never missed a single pint that I have given, but those who have received one most certainly would have noticed them gone, perhaps in a dire, final way, if I did not donate. That is humbling, it is sobering. No matter how independent, there are some things we simply cannot do ourselves, the ONLY option is to obtain help from another human being. It is in these instances that we are never happier to give than to receive.
#sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #legallyblindwriter #americanredcross #donationcontributions