For the Love of Neighbor: Why I Donate Blood

I just earned my American Red Cross 4-gallon donor badge! That actually isn’t why I started writing this post, but I discovered it as I was checking a fact below. I think my lifetime total is about 6 gallons, but 4 gallons accounts for the past 16 years, anyway.

I started giving blood as a junior in high school to the Corpus Christi Blood Bank (not an American Red Cross center, so slightly different donation requirements and rules) in Corpus Christi, Texas. I’m pretty sure that the blood drive was sponsored by the National Honor Society, of which I was a member, but it could have been any number of other service-oriented groups. Anyway, I was finally old enough and had never been scared of needles, so it was a reasonable way to volunteer to make a difference in someone else’s life. If my memory is correct, I missed the last half of English class and part of my NJROTC class to do so; I know that for many of my fellow volunteers that was a perk, but for me it was a downside. I loved my English teacher, Mrs. Irene O’Connor, if not the class (she howled with laughter when she found out that I minored in European literature in college because I hated the actual class so much!) and I loved every facet of NJROTC. Even with missing class, it was still a great experience and one that I made a habit of as often as I could before I left for college.

Once I got to Boston for college, I gave blood whenever a blood drive happened on campus. That might have been four times a year but was probably less often, and if I was eligible when I was at home, I gave there, too. I knew intellectually that what I was doing was important, but until I was deferred for a couple of years because of travel experiences and surgery, I hadn’t really given much thought to the actual meaning of giving blood. At the time, the American Red Cross hadn’t done a lot of computerization, so the callers didn’t have complete notes…and having to tell a volunteer that I was in deferral was painful to me after I heard the desperate plea for help. Lives were literally hanging in the balance and I couldn’t be part of the answer.

You would think that would have made me a more zealous donor, but I confess to resuming my occasional donations when it was convenient for me to do so for several years. Even after I met people during my pastoral internship and Clinical Pastoral Education unit whose lives had been saved by blood donors, I wasn’t a consistent donor until I went to work for Health and Safety Services of the American Red Cross. Since we taught CPR and First Aid to the Blood Services folks, they also asked us to donate on a pretty consistent schedule. Once or twice I had to defer for a week or so due to migraine medication and I had to skip one entire cycle because of a late-blooming summer case of the flu strain that had wiped out the whole chapter in February and March. We did our part because we were acutely aware of the need. I have been pretty consistent ever since, although I have had more periods of deferral due to surgery and travel as well as medication deferrals due to the aspirin in my migraine medication as I’ve gotten older.

Around the travel and surgical deferrals during my tenure at the church in Attleboro, I gave platelets at least once a month because the donation center was close to where some of my regular meetings were held. I could arrange my schedule to block out the 2.5 hours for the aphaeresis process before or after those meetings, which was nice because it was also down time: with both arms immobilized by needles, about the only thing to do was watch television. Yes, please! Sadly, the aphaeresis center for my region of Pennsylvania was not nearly so convenient, but I did give blood at the local drives as often as I could. A few times in those 10 years in Pennsylvania, I went with my brother to give platelets back in Corpus Christi. (He gives very regularly because he’s a universal donor, O-negative, and God only knows exactly how many lives he’s saved with his 40+gallons!)

I was delighted that we had a blood drive on July 1 at General Synod. It was the perfect way to demonstrate “love of neighbor” in the United Church of Christ’s “3 Great Loves” mission emphasis. I have no idea whether the video footage of me explaining why I give blood made it into any of the General Synod coverage, but I was thinking about that while I was once again hooked up to an aphaeresis machine on Wednesday afternoon. If that seems fast after July 1, it is, but with good reason: platelets can be given as often as every 7 days even after a whole blood donation! I didn't know that until I opened up my ARC Donor App to check my donor rewards and up popped the notice that I was eligible to give platelets! I checked the location, which has moved even closer to Attleboro since I was giving platelets here previously, and put a reminder in my phone to schedule an appointment for the following week. Then last Sunday on my way home from a lovely preaching gig on Martha’s Vineyard (supply preaching hath its perks) the traffic was backed up on the highway, so I took the next exit and promptly drove right past the donor center. Nothing quite like knowing exactly where you’re going!

When I show up at church, I hope a few people notice the slight bruising on each arm. That gives me the chance to share with them not just that donating blood is important but there are ways that nearly anyone who is an eligible donor can give more often than every eight weeks and still be able to give whole blood on a regular schedule. Platelets can be donated every 7 days (though at the center in Raynham, MA, the staff suggested every 14 days as that leads to more successful screening for most people) and the Red Cross asks for platelets specifically from everyone who is type A negative or any blood type positive. Plasma can be donated every 28 days; if you are blood type AB positive, you’re considered a universal plasma donor, but AB negative is also very important. If your local blood bank isn't affiliated with the American Red Cross, their needs and requirements may be different, but the need is real regardless. It is a slightly painful but incredibly powerful way to show that we love our neighbors. If you aren’t an eligible donor, don’t despair! You can still help: spread the word to those who could be donors and sign up to volunteer at a blood drive. Our neighbors’—people we might know but very likely people we will never meet—lives depend on it.