Don't wait - please donate!!

Rhonda Watkins | Jun 15, 2016

Did you know that every 56 days you can donate blood? Every 56 days you can help save a life!

Recently, someone my husband and I love needed to get a blood transfusion. Lonnie and I could do nothing to help this person with their ordeal, so we decided that the next best thing was to donate blood ourselves.

Being no stranger to donating blood, as I used to do it occasionally in the past, I kind of remembered what was involved. It is such an easy and rewarding decision that can change someone's life forever!

We phoned 1-888-2-donate and scheduled our appointment for the closest location to us that fit our schedule.

We made sure to drink lots of water the day of the donation and eat iron-enriched foods. I chose an extra can of tuna for lunch. Lonnie had left-over spaghetti. But extra raisins or even a granola bar that day probably would have worked as well.

We loaded our kids in the car the afternoon of the appointment and headed in to make a difference.

After getting the kids comfortable at the refreshment table, loaded with lots of complimentary juices, cookies and granola bars, my hubby and I got down to business.

We checked in with a piece of ID and the nurse then sent us to the station to have our finger pricked to test for anemia and make sure we would be able to donate.

The next step is getting your blood pressure and temperature checked and assessing your health. We were then ready to get things done.

Unfortunately, our donation chairs were not beside each other, so for the eight minutes of the actual donating of the blood, I had a TV in front of me to watch and Lonnie had to settle for trying to distract me with his funny faces and making me laugh.

After we provided our 488 ml. of blood unit, we waited our four minutes of rest time and then were free to go to the refreshment table to reload on snacks, coffee and juice!

Both kids were waiting for us with smiles and stickers that said future blood donors. I think they were both nervous for us at first, but once they saw for their own eyes what a difference we are making, they proudly said that they were going to donate too when they came of age. You are allowed to donate at 18, but can at 17 with parental consent.

O negative is the only blood type that is compatible with all other blood types and so it is in the highest demand, but it represents the smallest percentage of the population. Only 7% of Canadians share this blood type. This small percentage of people are also the unluckiest because they can only receive this blood type.

It is used in the most critical emergency situations: like for newborn babies and people with compromised immune systems or trauma victims.

Lonnie and I are not O negative, but we still donated because all blood is welcomed and needed by Canadian Blood Services.

The donations that are not used on treating patients may be stored for future testing or teaching and research; in short, it allows you to touch the lives of other fellow Canadians without opening your wallet.

Your blood type can save a life! It's safe and easy and giving blood takes less than an hour out of your day! Please call 1-888 2 DONATE (1-888-236-6283).