Donate Blood, Save a Life

When I was a child, I was terrified of needles.

I guess every kid dreads getting vaccines, and maybe I was traumatized, but the thought of anything breaking my skin scared the shit out of me. My mind was so attuned to my fears that I once had a 40 degree fever for 3 days, but when my parents brought me to the hospital, it went down to a 37.5 because I was too scared they would hook me up to a dextrose.

Bringing down a fever that high because of a fear of needles? Yeah, I was that talented.

Eventually though, I had to learn to cope, with mandatory medical tests and all that, but every time I had to get my blood drawn, I still felt anxious. But in 2004, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which meant I had to get my blood drawn regularly to monitor my TSH levels. That forced me to overcome my fear, and although still not a pleasant experience, getting stuck by a needle seems routine by now.

Getting over a fear of needles meant I could also do something I always wanted to do, donate blood. Sadly though, because of my hypothyroidism, I'm not always allowed to give blood. So far, I've only been able to donate to Red Cross blood drives at the office, which doesn't happen as often as I would like.

So it was a good thing Red Cross came back to the office today, yay! I happily spent a few minutes of my time to offer up my arm for a good cause, and I can't really think of a better way to spend my morning.  I do hope they come by more often though.

For more details -> http://www.redcross.org.ph/get-involved/give-blood