Saving Lives in the Only Way I Can

Early on in this pandemic, I read an article about how blood donations are lower than ever. We were in a blood crisis. Doctors and nurses were low on PPE, staff, and now blood? People died from COVID-19, and people were dying because no one was donating blood due to the shutdown. It frustrated me to no end, because those were more lives lost than there needed to be.

I sat on it for a bit, it took me about a week to make a decision. I have trypanophobia which means a fear of medical needles. I've had trypanophobia since I was little, and I've never grown out of it like most do. So I hesitated, sitting down to donate blood sounded like pure torture.

I decided to do more research into what blood donation was really like and how it would possibly go for me. In my research on blood donation, I discovered that donating a bag of whole blood can save three lives. That might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but three lives is huge to me.

So I got to work on doing something about this blood donation. All of my friends were feeling pretty helpless in the face of the pandemic, just like all of us. We worked from home. We missed seeing each other. We watched as the death toll of the pandemic went up in numbers. I messaged the group chat and I asked if anyone wanted to go donate blood with me.

Needless to say, everyone was shocked. They all know how scared I am of needles. My trypanophobia is so bad that I have full blown panic attacks when I'm around medical needles. I usually have to take someone with me to doctors appointments to help me, because I usually can't drive after. But this was important.

I managed to get three of my friends to go along with me, which makes a total of four people donating blood. If each bag of blood saves three lives, that's twelve lives per visit. My friends aren't as scared as I am. They are all also bigger than me, I am a small human. So this isn't as hard for them as it is for me, which actually helps me.

Donating blood is not fun for me. Nearly every time I've gone it has made me sick. Dizzy, shortness of breath, headache, the works have messed with me every time. It hurts, and I have small pinprick scars from the needles. The employees have always been amazing. They are kind, understanding, and helpful.

Since March, I have donated blood four times with my friends. Four peoples, four times, three lives per bag of blood is forty-eight lives saved. Forty-eight people with families and friends.

The pain, the discomfort, the fear, all of it was worth it for those forty eight lives. We will be signing up for our next blood donation in February, when we are allowed to. This is the only thing we do together as friends during this pandemic. We decided we will treat ourselves to yummy food, and then quarantine strictly for two weeks.

I write this to encourage you as well. Your blood donation will also save three lives. If you've had COVID-19, your blood will be extra useful during this pandemic for giving your antibodies. I won't sugarcoat it. It's stressful, you feel bad, it hurts, and for some people it's really scary. But it's worth it. Those who donate suffer some discomfort for a little while, but that blood bag will go to saving three people.

Vitalant is one of the many great organizations that do blood donations. Use this website to find out if there's one in your area and set an appointment. If not, you can use RedCross to find your nearest blood bank.