Depositing to the Blood Bank

On Thursday I went to donate blood for the first time. I originally told myself to start doing so three years ago after Courtney needed a transfusion and their was no matching blood type available.

While I am a procrastinator, three years is far longer than normal for me. Looking back, I know that part of it was me not wanting to reflect on the events that prompted me to make that decision. So I put some things on the back burner, giving blood being one of them.

Two weeks ago I remembered my promise to myself, and after a bit of web surfing I came across givelife.org. It provided a list of blood drives in the area and a way to sign up for an blood donation appointment. I found a drive at a local school and signed myself up. It only took a couple of minutes to set an appointment for 4pm the following Thursday.

It took about an hour at the school to give blood, but that was due to a large walk in crowd and a few first timer forms. The actual donation itself was relatively painless and only took about 5 minutes. The people there, including the nurses, were talkative and friendly even after 7 hours on the job.

I have already made an appointment for my next donation. You can give blood every 56 days, so I signed up for about 60 days out. By then I should know my blood type and have my Red Cross card. I encourage everyone who can give blood to do so, you never know who's life you may save.