Tuesday 10 November 2009

Give blood...

I'm currently waiting in the queue to give blood at my local church hall. It's my first time - not through lack of trying, just that I've always come down with a cold just before the appointment! But I'm here now, and on the tail-end of a sniffle for once.

I'm pretty surprised by the number of people here, and the diversity of the group. It's a cold, wet Tuesday evening and yet everyone's waiting patiently for their turn. I think of the transfusions both my brother and my dad had during their illnesses and I feel grateful to them, to everyone who turns up to do this thing. For once, an ad rings totally true. It is something amazing.

I'm sure many of you already do this, but if you don't, please think about it.
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5 comments:

  1. i've been giving blood for years. and years. and yes, years. in both south africa and here in england. recently the blood service told me that, unless robert also gives blood and they can compare both our samples, they cannot accept my donations anymore. reason: we come from sub-saharan africa and the new blood legislation rules us out except if we give blood as a couple. and whereas you can poke a needle in me anywhere and take as much as you want, and i'll be all facinated and afterwards skip out and go run a marathon, robert and needles and blood doth not make a happy man. and i'm not forcing him to do it just on my behalf. so, from march this year, i am no longer a blood donor... and isn't that just so sad?

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  2. yes. yes, i did misspell 'fascinate'. see how upset i am?!

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  3. I've given blood before, its such an important thing for everyone to do x

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  4. Good grief, Marcelle, I didn't know that! That means that Pieter and I must donate together too! To be honest I started fascinated - and the daughter of two fifty-pinters! - and now have to hypnotise myself into a happy state to try get through it. Not keen no more. Well done, Naz (and all other blood donors).

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  5. Gosh that's quite shocking! If it's to do with HIV they do test all donated blood, right, so I'm not sure what it even achieves to discriminate like that. Especially if you've been here a few years.

    Well, embarrassingly enough I fainted after donating (hadn't eaten enough) and the whole thing was a bit of a nightmare as my veins are very small and hard to find so it took about 15 minutes to actually give up a pint. I am indeed a stone. But I'm going to go again, but stuff myself silly first :)

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Rabbit-like in a nose that twitches when I laugh and front teeth not 100% rectified by 7 years of braces, postcolonial in being of British-Bangladeshi heritage (and reading many many books thereon). Books, tea and dresses: these are some of my favourite things.