To ask all those who can to donate blood.

[HadABadDay2014]

www.blood.co.uk/index.aspx

Only 4% of adults give blood, which is a shocking number.

I understand not every one can for their own reasons.

Please give of you can.

I am group O, so it is the only one I can receive. It is in my interests to keep their stocks up! :-)

I have donated regularly since 1971.

I would encourage donors to come forward, too. I gave blood for years, beginning at age 18, and achieved a presentation. But then I had to stop because I started to take various prescribed tablets so my blood was not welcome. I still feel a bit sad about that.

My uncle was in hospital and I visited. He was desperately needing blood so I stepped forward with my card. My blood was declined because it would have to be tested first so had to come from the blood bank.

Please remember also that whole blood had a REALLY short shelf life!

I have just had to cancel my appt as I am pregnant. Will be signing back up as soon as I can though. And will be taking DH to his appt

I like that this thread is showing why people can't. It goes and shows how important giving blood is.

I'm A+, will be doing my 20th donation in May :-)

When I began to give mine, there were no appointments. We just knew that the session was between, say, 2.00pm and 4.30pm. We went at any time convenient to us. I took my toddlers and they sat on the bed at my feet watching what was going on. 30 years later and they are now both donors .....

Are children not allowed in the room any more?

I can't because I'm severly anemic. I always feel bad, because I'm O-, and they are always saying they need O- blood.

and for all the wonderful, generous people who take the time to donate their blood. Your gift is very, very much appreciated. Even if you never meet someone who has received blood, there are lots of people out there who thank their lucky stars that you did what you did, people like me who might not be here, people like my DH and my DParents who would have been bereft and my DCs (who would never have been born). The impact of your donations is huge.

Thank you.

YANBU and DH donated last week.

I can't since having life savingly massive blood transfusions myself.

So lovely people who do donate blood have saved my life

Transfusions saved my life after massive PPH. Doctors said without them I wouldn't have been around to see my child grow up. Every year at their birthday I have a little think about the lovely people who donated that blood.

I'm not allowed :( I try every few years but they always say no! I have donated once 15 years ago but due to hot day, cool hall where I donated, back into hot day, cool car, hot petrol forecourt, cool petrol station shop my blood pressure plummeted and I fainted in the petrol station!! I have never fainted before or since but because an ambulance was called its on my records and I'm refused every time...it really upsets me as I would love to donate again!

They always say that most people can give blood, but that never seems plausible to me - on MN threads, and in most of the offices I've worked with there's been huge numbers of people whose medical/travel/sexual history rules them out. I give largely because so many people I know can't.

On the gay men thing, they are no longer barred for life, "only" for a year. Unfortunately there are very good statistical reasons for the bar - they are much more at risk of HIV infection than people outside the big risk categories, by orders of magnitude.

I am so grateful to anyone who donates blood and if a donor session comes up locally I always put up on social media in case people do not know about it.

When I had my son 5 years ago, I lost 2.2 litres of blood. At first I refused the blood transfusion that I was told I needed. I didn't want someone else's blood flowing inside me. After 3 days of being in hospital and my blood count still dropping, I felt to unwell to even hold my little baby. I agreed to the transfusion. I had 3 bags of blood. I am so grateful to the 3 people that donated that blood, which saved my life. My blood count went down to 4.1. and I was at risk of heart failure.

My husband now donates as much as possible. He had never donated before I had the transfusions but he feels as strongly as I do. He is just as grateful as I am and wants to help others.

Please can I say thank you to all those who have donated blood - of all blood types! I'm B- so a rare blood type but I have received many transfusions - on one occasion this saved my life as I had internal bleeding. The internal bleeding was a complication of my double organ transplant - I am now healthy and well and have even had 2 DS's :) please can I also make a cheeky request that people also consider joining the organ donor register x

Those who want to help, why not volunteer to make tea/ coffees. I don't know if this is possible.

MrsCake, thank you, that made me well up a bit.
I used to donate regularly but stopped after I had a piercing. I didn't donate for years until just before Christmas when the Clutha disaster prompted me to go again and I will be going back shortly.

I'm booked in for April 1st! I'm another A+ donor and they've never turned me away for being too common!

Oh and ours have Club biscuits and mince pies at Christmas!

Sometimes - I've taken my 9yo DS with me, he just sat on the chair beside my bed and played on his DS. I'd be reluctant to take both DCs though in case they started winding each other up and playing up - I try and go when they are at school, or later on when DH is at home.

I'm AB- so rare blood. Only given once, a couple of weeks ago. Plan on doing it again but I'm going for platelet donation test to see if I can do that

I have given blood 5 or 6 times now, now idea why I didn't do it before. I have also recently joined the bone marrow register.

Giving blood really is very easy, there are usually lots of clinics and some do a little bit later in the evenings, most don't though which makes it very difficult for DH. I work in a hospital and they run a big clinic there so I can just nip down whilst at work.

Ive donated over 30 times. Felt faint the first time but usually no problem at all.

I was unable to donate for a time and felt a bit if a failure.

Sandstorm at the donor sessions I attend you are asked to drink a large glass of water in the waiting area before making your donation. That really makes a difference to how you feel afterwards. I think the light headedness a lot of people experience is due to dehydration from donating 3/4 pint blood.

Even with appointments I often have to wait up to an hour, which I find a bit much tbh - what's the point of an appointment system if you then have to wait ages? Might just be the donor sessions I attend though.

I was too light for a long time. Then I had children and they dropped the lower limit. I now go every 4 months without fail, even if it means having to change location, like yesterday.

Someone said upthread about sessions only being weekdays. There are definitely some places with Saturdays available, so check all locations that you could get to, if it means you could then donate.

I usually go during work hours. Boss is happy to let me out for this.