Life Changing

In February of 2015, I was sixteen years of age and a junior in high school. It started of as a normal day at school until I seen a poster on the wall that I didn’t realize would change my life forever. That poster was on one of the walls at the Russellville High School informing students about the upcoming blood drive that was going to be held in the safe room on March 2, 2015. I stared at it for a few seconds so I could get all the details about the drive. I then had to think about it for a week, since this was going to be the first blood donation I had ever done. I had went home after feeling confident about it and consulted my parents about the donation that was going to be held at the school gave them all the details about it so they knew I was absolutely interested in doing it. They asked me if I needed a permission slip for them to fill out to give Red Cross permission to take my blood. I told them that there was but I wanted to inform them first before getting one and wasting a paper that someone else could be using. I went to school the next day went to the library and grabbed the permission slip for them to complete. Immediately after I got home I gave it to my mom with a huge smile on my face, she completed the form and handed the form back to me. I turned it in the very next day feeling confident about what I was doing. I talked to a friend to see if she would be interested in joining me in the blood drive, and of course she was all up for it and she ended up signing up as well. She was a little hesitant at first like I was and then realized it’d be no big deal. On March 2, 2015 around ten-twenty that morning we received a slip releasing us from class to report to the safe room. We walked down there together and we both seemed very nervous. We finally reached the room and they handed us a booklet before we could go in and told us to read over it and we did exactly that. After we finished reading we walked in and took a sit, we got to the front of the line and a man told us a story about a man that had donated 70 times in his lifetime. They took us behind a curtain and asked questions and checked iron levels. Afterwards I walked out and seen my friend crying, she told me she wasn’t eligible to donate. She decided to be a good friend and stand beside me while I donated. She talked to me while I was donating to keep me distracted from what was going on. I got up from the chair received my shirt and walked back to class. I went home bragging about how fun it was giving blood and showed them the shirt I received. About two weeks afterwards I got a letter in the mail informing me of my blood type being A negative. My mom told me I had the same blood type as my father and that it was one of the rare types and that is why my dad donates. A month after I donated I came home and my mom said “You have received another letter from Red Cross,” it came in informing me that my blood was used on a young child that was involved in an accident in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I started crying half way through reading the letter because I was so ecstatic about saving someone’s life. That specific letter made me realize how important it is to donate blood, the little girl from Tulsa could’ve died if it wasn’t for blood drives all over the world. The blood donation didn’t just save her it has saved millions of people from all over. I donated again after that letter to The Arkansas Blood Institute with my grandmother, and once more on March 4, 2016 at the school. I intend to continue donating because I have come to realize how important the blood in me that keeps my heart beating can help another person’s heart continue to beat. Helping others by donating is what I want to continue doing for the rest of my life just like the man that donated 70 times in his lifetime. If it wasn’t for that letter I would’ve never realized how important this process is and never would have donated again.