Can I just make an appeal for anybody able to do so to consider becoming a blood donor? It's such a worthwhile thing to do and there is always a need for new blood so to speak!
If you are interested all details can be found on website.
www.blood.co.uk/
Last edited by: Pugugly on Thu 10 Feb 11 at 14:09
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I gave 100+ pints over 42 years - even sold some in Saudi Arabia for £10.00 - US Oil Co Hospital were needing A+ and they always paid for donations.
Got my Quaich and certificate for 100 pints 4.5 years ago from the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
This year I am ill and so far have been given 4 packs and I would like to thank these 4 people for helping me when I needed their help.
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I was a blood donor until a routine blood test revealed a bone marrow disorder which precluded further donations. For anyone dithering about being a donor, it's painless and well worthwhile.
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I was turned down as a donor many years ago. I had malaria as a child (it never leaves you entirely) and had been travelling in black Africa, another reason apparently.
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I got a silver certificate for 25 donations and perhaps did 30 odd in total before health issues intervened.
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I donated for many years and probably got some of it back during major surgury. Unfortunately I can no longer donate for medical reasons.
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I'm due my silver badge next time, I last donated on Christmas Eve so due to go again just before Easter. Mum received a total of 17 units during her final illness so I feel proud to have more than offset that.
I make a point of scheduling my donations just before the holiday times when less donors may be coming forward, as some blood products have a very limited shelf life.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Thu 10 Feb 11 at 13:01
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Daughter tried for first time last week but was barrred due recent travel to S America. Got to wait 6 months from return and then be screened.
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Regular donor here too, though mainly for the plates of free chocolate biscuits when it's finished.
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...though mainly for the plates of free chocolate biscuits when it's finished...
And a nice eyeful of 'nurse' as she leans over to plug you in and unplug you. :)
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I got up to 40 pints and was aiming for the 50 mark but have now had to stop due to being on medication for high blood pressure.
I heartily recommend donating to anyone, I just wish I had started earlier.
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Done a few many years ago then fell off the wagon, but I suspect they wouldn't want it now Due to Prostrate Cancer and high blood pressure. Mind you there's a few that would like a drop of Hobgoblin now and then!
Cheers all............
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>> I got up to 40 pints and was aiming for the 50 mark but have
>> now had to stop due to being on medication for high blood pressure.
>>
Call me thick, but wouldn't it be a good thing to tap off a pint if the problem is high pressure? ;)
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>> wouldn't it be a good thing to tap off a pint if the problem is high pressure? <<
Yes.
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I did ask my Doctor about this because I was keen to carry on donating but was told that ' I had done my bit' and it was better not to give any more because of the medication I am on.
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Over the years I have seen the snack collection increase year by year. Originally 40 years back it was a choice of digestive or ginger nut. Then chocolate biscuits arrived some years later followed more recently by kitkats and penguins. Those preferring a savoury snack were then offered a packet of crisps in various flavours. Last time I went they had introduced gluten free cakes for those suffering from coeliac disease.
I'm donating tomorrow - I'll see if anything new!
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I also encourage anybody to do it. It's always better to give than to receive, more so when it costs you nothing and you can have a cup of tea and a biscuit!
Sadly they won't have mine any more - a few years ago they started declining blood from anyone who's had a transfusion, which I did in 1991 when I had a perforated ulcer. I'm still in credit with the blood bank though.
I'm pleased that both my children are donors - so many of the young seem now to dislike the idea.
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>> I'm pleased that both my children are donors - so many of the young seem now to dislike the idea.
>>
They dislike most ideas unless there's a profit for them.
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I've taken both my girls along with me before to see what goes on. It'll be five years until the eldest can donate but they have both expressed an interest in doing so.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Thu 10 Feb 11 at 20:36
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I always remember chatting to one of the lady phlebotomists in the local church hall on a cold day who told me how she kept her hands warm by resting them on the bags of freshly donated blood...... nicely at body temperature.
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Most people would have to take a day of work to donate blood. If blood donor centres opened at weekends they'd get a lot more blood - including mine.
They'd probably have to pay the staff overtime but they'd save a fortune on TV adverts, etc.
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"Most people would have to take a day of work to donate blood."
They used to take over a few rooms of the Novotel in Hammersmith from time to time when I worked there and people were invited from companies in the area to walk in and donate. It only took an hour or so I seem to remember.
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I gave about 70 pints and have the gold badge, etc - one of my few lifetime achievements. But I was disappointed to find that the French won't accept English blood because of the BSE scare. Someone told me they will accept to make blood by-products, rather than putting into French veins, but I've never found a centre that was interested. Of course, BSE never happened in France...
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The Scottish vampires have mobile donation units, (articulated trucks), these do the rounds of industrial estates and other locations where there are no facilities.
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>> The Scottish vampires have mobile donation units, (articulated trucks), these do the rounds of industrial estates
>> and other locations where there are no facilities.
Including universities and colleges (thinking back to Iffy's point about eyefuls). :)
Impressive piece of kit, an articulated lorry blood donor unit - all the more so for being entirely funded by charitable donations (no pun intended).
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>> If blood donor centres opened at weekends
Blood donor sessions are regularly held at weekends, I used to go to one on a Sunday in a community centre in Loughborough when I worked full-time.
www.blood.co.uk/SessionSearcher/search.aspx
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>> Blood donor sessions are regularly held at weekends, I used to go to one on
>> a Sunday in a community centre in Loughborough when I worked full-time.
>>
>> www.blood.co.uk/SessionSearcher/search.aspx
I had a look for session near me, but they seem few and far between.
It's been a few years since I donated, but when I did there was a full-time centre just 15 minutes bus ride away.
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>> they seem few and far between
They shouldn't be any more than 4 months apart, as that's the recommended interval for donations. I think they'd rather you waited 3 months to fall into step with your nearest session and then attended thrice yearly, than that you made the effort to go to a distant one this week and didn't go again.
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>> They shouldn't be any more than 4 months apart, as that's the recommended interval for
>> donations. I think they'd rather you waited 3 months to fall into step with your
>> nearest session and then attended thrice yearly, than that you made the effort to go
>> to a distant one this week and didn't go again.
Sure, I understand that, but what if the sessions that they do have don't fit with my schedule?
I'm happy to donate (albeit that I have fallen out of the habit) but, to be honest, it does have to be reasonably convenient for me.
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I (conveniently) thought I couldn't donate as a result of jaundice as a kid until I contracted shingles. My GP informed me my stuff was much sought after, so off I trotted.
I was contacted and asked to attend Hendon once a week where they'd separate my red and white cells and give me back the red. My employer was prepared to give me time off work but the transfusion service wasn't prepared to give me any help in travelling costs. At the time I was the sole wage earner, with a mortgage and two young kids. There was no way I could bear the entire cost, so they lost out.
I gave a couple of more times, but was told not to come back any more. I've got this sort of phobia about needles, surgery and related stuff. The last time, I ended up with a doctor and two nurses dealing with me as I shook and sweated. I never did get a biccy or tea!
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>> I ended up with a doctor and two nurses dealing with me as I
>> shook and sweated. I never did get a biccy or tea!
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Mrs ON and I were in with the practace nurse for travel jabs recently. After being done Mrs ON said "Is that it" impying that she had not felt anything. I replied that I had better not squeal then, Nurse - "You are a man, we expect you to squeal!". I think she tried to make me too. :-(
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We have the blood mobile come to work. There are about 5500 of us in total and they come for 3 days. They are usually fully booked, and we are allowed to go anytime during the day - we just have to book an apointment a few days before.
Works well for me, and TBH not sure I would go in my own time to a community center, but happy to pop across the carpark at work.
Only had a couple of bad experiences - one where I dont know what they did but my arm was badly bruised afterwards and I couldn't lift for a day or two, and another time they hit the muscle in my arm. Result was arm swelled up and no donation as the blood wouldnt come out! Small price to pay for helping others though
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Blood Donor needed - Falkirk Bairn
