My children can never be donors, what do I tell them?

[Beaaware]

My children are 19, 22, 24, they were all born during the BSE crisis, the other day one of them asked me 'Mum I want to donate my blood when I travel overseas' , I know that this is not possible because all three of my children are banned from doing this in most other countries around the world.
AIBU not tell them exactly why this is, or should I let them find out for themselves, how do you tell your kids that they have potentially been exposed to deadly rogue prions?

In fact John's just having steak as we speak, he does'nt care anymore, he's old.

I found out recently that I can't give blood because I have had a blood transfusion myself. If you have received blood products since 1980 then you can't donate - those are the rules, it's because CJD can be transmitted by blood but it can't be detected.
I would just like to give some back as a result of having my life saved. It was a little disappointing, but hey, I got over it.

I also can't understand, that as you've been banging on about this subject on MN for years, that you haven't mentioned it to your adult children.

I think the OP may have MH issues.

I know someone like this IRL, obsessively worried about all sorts of so-called health scares. I seriously think it is more damaging to your health to be so worried and anxious all the time than the tiny tiny possibility of you actually being affected by any of these issues. Seriously OP, for the sake of your own health I think you need to RELAAAAAX.

Mad cow.

It's a horrible thing to have to tell them

Don't be so dramatic.

Christ yes. Can you imagine the drama chez CJDLoon if the milk went out of date?

Platoon-style bellows to an uncaring god, renting of garments, self-immolation.

Ooh the excitement.

'Mum I want to donate my blood when I travel overseas' ,
Oh yeah, that's what my adult son says to me allll the time.!! Hilarious OP.

I hope you appreciated, OP, that both my cultural references were from the time of the "crisis". I don't just throw this shit together, you know.

I am 22 and I have donated blood. Just don't do it overseas and it's fine.

I'm 23, BSE was way after we were born.

The OP has a particular interest in this subject - I vaguely remember from previous posts.

I think this is a single-issue OP finding a new angle to try to instil panic in everyone, right?

I lived overseas for years and was ineligible to donate blood because I am British. Not a big deal.

It's a horrible disease, and yes, there may be some latent cases in the UK that won't emerge for years yet, but it's not worth obsessing about or passing the anxiety on to your children.

Obviously for those that do get vCJD it isnt a very nice thing but I do think the risk is over- rated.

I took part in a study a few years ago to look at the prevelance in the community. The study expected x amount on affected people... they found none

'Mum I want to donate my blood when I travel overseas'

Really?

It's a horrible thing to have to tell them, but I will, thanks for the advice and lets hope oneday the ban will be lifted.

Sorry but I think there's some massive over-thinking going on here. Your chlldren are adults. If they plan to travel/live abroad, they are perfectly capable ot checking out the acceptability of giving blood if the issue arises. Why are you getting so devastated on their behalf over what has to be a mere hypothesis anyway?

PS. I have adult dcs who are also affected by these restrictions. Not one of them has suffered acute devastation as a result. It's a fact of life, that's all. You cope with it.

my ds were born 93 and 95 and are both blood donors with no questions asked and no warnings about giving abroad

If this is a serious plan on the part of an adult (especially one who already donates here), I expect they'll google their destination's rules on blood donation shortly, and say, "meh".

I thought interesting factoids like that were common knowledge to any present UK blood donor, actually.

meant 83 85 dammit!

This thread is bonkers

By the way, I thought this thread was going to be about gay adult children, who didn't know they were prohibited from donating.

Now, that is something I wouldn't enjoy having to explain.

I hope you enjoy this new sense of perspective.

I quite fancy namechanging to RoguePrion now!

Blimey.

My children are of similar age. I don't get the problem. They can't donate in some other countries dd can't donate at all.

You have another agenda OP? BSE, vCJD, prion disease whatever, if you have lived in this country in the 80s/90s then the likelihood is that you may have been exposed to it. It's a fact of life and sadly little we can currently do about it. Certainly there's no particular point in worrying about it now. That particular horse has bolted.

We tried to give blood when backpacking in Oz (because they were giving away free cinema tickets and we were skint).

They turned us down because of our nomadic lifestyles, they said we needed the blood more than they did!

Fear not OP, I believe one can purchase a personalised card bearing this very message from funky pigeon dot com