Giving Blood

It was horrible outside tonight, thanks to Storm Barbara or whatever daft name the MET office has given this one. Snow, rain, gales. Scottish weather at its best.
However, I was determined I was heading out to give blood. Tonight would be my 25th donation!


I still remember the first time I went to donate. I tagged along with my best friend Catriona and her mum Angela (my ma) 15 years ago to one of the local high schools as Cat was going to donate before we went out.
At the time I thought that I might as well donate while I was there, no point in just watching Cat give her blood, and its just sort of continued on from there. Granted, it's maybe taken me longer than most to reach the 25 pint donation milestone as sometimes it wasn't always convenient to donate, I had to miss some due to illness or holidays, or I wasn't able to donate as I'd had a piercing or two (no mention of where!) but I've finally reached my 25th donation and to be honest, I'm a little bit proud of myself!
According to their recent letter, I'm part of the 9% of Scotland's population to have the blood type B Positive (which is ironic really as I'm often referred to as being a Grinch!) and apparently B+ is fairly rare.
Mara is B+ too. I remember seeing the adverts years ago that 3 teaspoons of blood could save a babies life, and that has always stuck with me, and despite her not needing any kind of operations or transfusion after her premature arrival, I felt this sense of relief that should there ever have been any problems I would be on hand to help Mara.

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) is the specialist provider of safe high quality blood, tissues and cells products and services in Scotland. Their key priority is to ensure that NHS Scotland has enough blood to meet the transfusion needs of patients in Scotland.


Every time you give blood, you can save or improve the lives of up to three people.
Their website states that they aim to have at least 6 days stock of every type of blood group available for use. Today's stats say that they are running with only 5 days of AB Negative (AB-) and 7 days of O Positive (O-).
I understand that there are a plethora of reasons as to why people are unable to give blood, but for those of you who can, do you? It's literally one hour out of your day once every 12 weeks if you're a guy and every 16 weeks for the ladies. You even get a cup of tea, coffee or juice and a wee biscuit at the end!


The SNBTS do a great job year round and have always been extremely friendly and professional anytime I've been in. Long may they continue to provide the great service that they do.

Please visit the SNBTS website for more details on if, when and where you can donate.
You never know, your actions could help save someone's life.
Make it a December to remember!

My badge of honour from tonight!

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