donors

Blood Donors Needed!

Since I was diagnosed everyone has been asking what practical things they can do to help me get better and up untill now I couldn't really think of anything . Now that I'm feeling alot better Kelly and I have been giving it some thought and we have come up with a way that you can help, not just me but alot of people in a similar situation to me, including some of the good friends I have made at the hospital who are also fighting blood related illnesses.

I'm sure you have all heard it before 'the blood bank needs more blood' but what most of us don't find out untill we go through something like this is just how important blood donors are and how the blood is used. I'm going to try and explain just a little about how important blood donors have been in my treatment and what you can do to help.

Why there is never enough blood -

Unfortunetly the demand for blood outweights the number of donors, I had to wait 12 hours for blood to be flown in from Townsville one night because there was none available in Sydney. In the 10 months since I was diagnosed I have received at least 40 bags of blood. While 40 bags might not sound like alot to most people consider the following - most of those 40 bags had at least 2 donors and some even had 4 so that means at least 80 seperate blood donations just to keep me alive. If I was allowed to give blood (which obviously I'm not) I would have to donate blood every 3 months for the next 20 years just to replace what I have used so far.

How the blood helps me -

When my red cells (or Hb as shown on my counts page) get too low I start to look pale, have trouble breathing, get very tired and generaly feel unwell (when I first got sick my Hb was dangerously low so if you saw me then that should give you an idea of what I mean). The reason for this is that red cells carry oxygen around your body, so without enough good cells my body starts to get starved of oxygen. When I have a blood transfusion my red cells start to climb straight away so I feel better within hours.

How you can help -

Give Blood! I know it sounds easy enough but you would be surprised how many people have the best intentions of going but just never find the time. I do understand what a big favour I'm asking of all of you, just making the time to go and remembering to go every three months is a big comittment but all you have to do is spend a few hours at the hospital to see what a big difference you could make to peoples lives by being a blood donor. Trust me, the saying 'blood saves lives' is true, I'm living proof. I understand that not everyone is up to giving blood and that some people can't for medical reasons, (Note - if you have lived in the UK in the last few years and eaten beef while you where there or if you are unwell or taking certain medications you may not be allowed to give blood so please call the blood bank before going if you are unsure) however there is still heaps of things you can do such as incouraging people who can give blood to do so, you could remind people who already give blood that their 3 months is up and to go again, you could even offer to go with them as support.

If you have any questions about anything I have written on this page please email me at [email protected] . If you would like to know more about how or where to donate blood please click here to go to the blood banks web site, it includes all the info on donations and even shows where the mobile blood bank is each day.

Thank you for taking the time to read this page, I'm sorry it was so long but its just so important that we find more blood donors so I wanted to include as much information as possible to help incourage people to donate.