Trying to sit still (rather unsuccessfully). Trying to stop my teeth from chattering (an even more unsuccessful attempt). Trying to not focus on the blood rushing out of my arm and then rushing back in (my most successful effort of the process). I am undergoing a double red donation for the first time, and the sensation is something I have never experienced before. All I could think about was how ready I was for this to be over.
It wasn’t until this experience that I realized just how important my blood donation was. As desperate as I was for the process to be over, I know that there are people who are infinitely more desperate for their lives to not be over. There are people who will have to experience their loved ones pass away. This is when I decided that I could easily withstand a simple needle in my arm. This is when I decided that my short term discomfort was insignificant. This is when I decided that I would continue to save lives.
I have given whole blood donations five times, but my first were simply ways to get out of class when blood drives visited my high school. Bored of sitting through lectures, the prospect of leaving class for an hour to get free snacks and Gatorade was one of the best offers high school had made to me. Little did I know, donating blood was much more important than just getting to skip class.
Now a Biomedical Sciences major in my first year of undergraduate study, I understand more about the need for blood. I have shadowed numerous doctors in hospitals and clinics and heard countless stories recalling the difficulty of seeing their patients pass away. This resonated with me, as I hope to one day work as a physician assistant, and I know that I will want to put forth every effort to save my patients, let alone my loved ones. I’ve found that the easiest way I can do that now, as a student, is to participate in blood drives and to donate blood as often as I can.
I have always had an interest in medicine, so blood and needles aren’t as problematic to me as they are to some. However, I could think of countless things more pleasant than a large needle in my arm. Even more unpleasant was the apheresis donation. It lasted what seemed like an eternity, and the cold rush that my entire body felt during the plasma return was certainly strange, to say the least. I felt my body shivering, I felt my teeth chattering, and I saw my arm go purple. When the donation was over, I gladly ate the Nutter Butter that I had been staring at from across the room, and, despite my discomfort from the bed, walked out with a smile.
I left knowing that the s mall amount of time it took to donate blood would add so much more time to someone else’s life. I left knowing that the small amount of discomfort I felt was nothing in comparison to the pain and suffering felt by those who have lost loved ones. I left knowing that I am helping save lives, and that is the best comfort of all. 