Helping Out

One of my things on my Bucket List was to donate blood. Whenever I was in High School my health teacher would have Blood Drives every about 6 months. Most of my friends gave and Matt always gave a double red (meaning he gave twice as much blood as normal). But I never gave. I was just always afraid to. I'm not sure why. People give blood every day and it is perfectly fine. I guess I just heard too many "horror" stories about the Red Cross nurses not being able to find the vein and the person gets poked and prodded too many times, their whole arm turns black and blue.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason I put, "Donate Blood" on my Bucket List. I guess I just figured that sure, it may hurt me for a little bit, but my blood can actually help save people. What if I was the one in the situation that I needed blood? I would be incredibly thankful for the donors who I received the blood from. I guess that's why I wanted to do it someday.

Last Wednesday I was in between classes at school and I was sitting in the computer lab checking my email. I received an email that said that the college was having a Blood Drive today and that anyone that wanted to donate could, with or without an appointment. It just hit me, this was my perfect opportunity to do it. I had an hour before my next class, so I went down.

I was extremely nervous but everyone working there was really friendly. I gave them all of my information, got the finger prick, and then I was ready to go. I was laying there on the bed, really nervous, and then, before you know it, it was over! It barely hurt at all. And when it did hurt, it was just a little pinch, nothing bad at all.

Afterwards I was sitting at the snack table and I was feeling perfectly fine. I was astonished that I didn't feel any different. And then, it hit me. I started swaying in my seat, I was sweating, and my vision was going in and out. I was about to pass out. It was the weirdest feeling ever. I have never passed out before so I was a little worried, but the nurses there wheeled me over to a cot to lay down for a while.

Needless to say, I was late to my next class which was a lab. Thankfully, my teacher had other labs later that night so I just stayed for a later class.

I am so proud of myself for giving even though I almost passed out. It was worth it. I felt a million times better about myself. If you are able to donate, you definitely should! At least once anyways. Then you can just say you did it! I'm not quite sure if I will be giving again in the near future or not, but I'm really glad that I decided to give. It feels good to know that my blood will be helping someone in need.