Blogging About Blood Donation

1. L
   September 5th, 2007 at 11:50 pm

   I’m not allowed to donate because I’m not big enough. But I would if I could.

2. Miss Cellania
   September 6th, 2007 at 12:16 am

   I just got my first gallon award last week!

   I would have gotten it years ago if I didn’t keep moving to different states with different donation services.

3. jeff
   September 6th, 2007 at 12:52 am

   i’m not allowed to donate blood because i’m gay; even though i’ve tested HIV- every six months since i was 20yrs. old in 1990.

4. Alex
   September 6th, 2007 at 1:11 am

   Gays aren’t allowed to donate blood? Really?

5. aj
   September 6th, 2007 at 1:36 am

   Well, i suppose if people think you can be cured of gay it’s not that big of a leap to assume it can be transmitted through a blood transfusion.

6. Carl Huber
   September 6th, 2007 at 8:05 am

   It doesn’t mean you guys can’t encourage your friends to go!

7. Sid Morrison
   September 6th, 2007 at 8:13 am

   I’ve got nothing against donating blood (and I do from time to time if I remember to stop taking my daily aspirin the week prior — they don’t like that), but the American Red Cross really bugs the heck out of me. I wish there was a better charity that ran the blooddrives.

   My gripes about the American Red Cross?
   1. Whenever there is a national emergency (Sept 11th, Hurricane Katrina, whatever) they are very quick to organize all sorts of emergency donation sites so that “the public can “help out”. This occurs whether or not the emergency actually results in a NEED for blood.

   2. Much of the blood they collect (especially on such emergency drives) is merely sold overseas as a means of Red Cross fund generation. There isn’t anything technically wrong with this, but they work very hard to hide what’s going on, and to instead imply that people are helping victims through donations.

   3. Even if I donate a zillion units of blood, I still get charged if I ever *need* blood.

   4. If they ever get ahold of your phone number, look out! They’ll call and pester you day after day about upcoming blood drives. If you screen the calls, they don’t leave messages, insisting to keep bothing you until you actually speak to them.

   5. They attempted to hijack the many millions of $ donated by Americans into their 9/11 victims’ relief fund to instead re-equip themselves with new computers and other office equipment. It was only after they investigative press (and the U.S. Congress) got ahold of the scam that they eventually relented, and agreed to spend “victims relief $” on victims’ relief.

   6. Ask any American service veteran (especially one who served in a theatre of war) what they think of the American Red Cross. 9 out of 10 times they will hate them.

8. M
   September 6th, 2007 at 10:15 am

   In Ireland blood donors are offered Guinness to fortify them after a blood donation (as well as the usual snacks, soft drinks, etc)

9. Gellner
   September 6th, 2007 at 1:14 pm

   Believe it or not, warehouses full of blood are thrown out each year. They DO have too much blood in some cases.

   Want to know what’s stopping me from donating blood? Effing needles.

   Punch me in the face and put a cup underneath my nose and I’d be ok with it, but I just get creeped out by needles.

10. Sid Morrison
    September 6th, 2007 at 2:38 pm

    Guinness eh? That’s wonderful… The Irish are an awesome people!
    Like the old slogans said: Guinness for Strength! and Guinness is Good For You!

11. Carl Huber
    September 6th, 2007 at 4:03 pm

    In some cases blood can’t be transported safely to where it’s needed quickly enough for their very stringent safety reasons, yes, so it has to be destroyed. That’s no reason to NOT give where it IS needed…which is still pretty much everywhere.

    It’s still free - doesn’t cost you a thing to give your blood. No matter what you may think of their business policies, giving your blood is free and it definitely saves lives!

12. KiM
    September 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

    I’d go and donate - but I’m not allowed to. I’m diabetic (type 1) and have to take shots of insuline. But people who are diabetic with type 2 (overweight) are allowed to donate their blood?? That’s the point I don’t understand. Many of those take medicaments such as pills, etc. and we with type 1 only insuline, but still we can’t donate??

13. Malthusan
    September 7th, 2007 at 12:45 am

    @Alex…

    Gays are allowed to give blood…as long as they haven’t had sex since 1977. I’ve had some dry spells, but nothing that lasted that long, so I’m pretty much banned from ever giving blood. I suppose I could lie (since I know I’m HIV-), but something about lying so I can give my blood to someone else doesn’t sit well with me. I’ll keep trying and they’ll keep declining, and my B- offerings will do no one, save myself, any good. Stupid Red Cross.

14. Sid Morrison
    September 7th, 2007 at 3:39 am

    If you folks were one of the many who caught AIDS or Hepatitis from a blood transfusion, the extra caution would be better understood. I had a friend from college who caught Hep as a result of tainted blood received during open heart surgery as a young girl.

    This is one thing I actually do NOT fault the American Red Cross on. And don’t get your leather panties in a ringer over the exclusion of homosexual men — Lesbians are still OK (someone please insert joke here) because they don’t have a high incidence of AIDS. There are PILES of other exclusion rules… People who’ve lived in a number of African countries are out also, regardless of sexual preference because AIDS is rampant there in the general population. They also don’t want blood from people who spent “too much” (I think 3 months total) time in the UK during the 1980s-1990s either. That excludes lots of Americans who travel frequently. Also out are people who have ever received a transfusion while in the UK. The concern in both of these is mad cow disease, rather than AIDS, though. In any event, as long as the supply of donors is in fact rather plentiful (despite what they try to make you think), it’s cheaper for them to exclude certain classes rather than test every unit for every pathogen with the most accurate (and expensive) tests. The American Red Cross doesn’t admit they collect a lot more blood in the US than is really needed here, because sales to overseas markets is one of their biggest sources of income. And, they need a lot of that to support a bloated management structure that includes a CEO getting over $400K per year salary.

15. Sid Morrison
    September 7th, 2007 at 3:53 am

    PS - I looked up the question about why type I diabetes is out but not type II… What concerns them is whether or not you have to take insulin. People with Type I diabetes typically have to take insulin injections whilst Type II usually do not, so while it looks like they object to the diabetes variant itself, but this isn’t true.

    Anyhow, insulin used to treat diabetes is typically bovine insulin, which is made from the cow pancreas. A lot of bovine insulin is/was produced in the UK and the UK had problems with Mad Cow disease from infected cattle. Blood banks can’t easily test for Mad Cow disease in donated blood, so it’s easier (and safer) to just exclude people who have injected insulin since 1980 (I guess the date pertains to when animal feed companies began turning cattle into cannibals and started this whole mess).

16. Carl Huber
    September 7th, 2007 at 7:50 pm

    What Sid is trying to say in much fewer words is this: Donating blood is ridiculously easy and absolutely safe for the VAST MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION.

    Thanks, Sid!

17. Sid Morrison
    September 8th, 2007 at 3:00 am

    and (unfortunately) … I just wish there was somebody better than the American Red Cross to give it to.

18. jeff
    September 14th, 2007 at 9:25 pm

    um, i own some leather shoes and an old belt. i even once had a ‘Leatherman’ pocket tool that i got for x-mas once but sorry dude i wear boxers and occasionally cotton briefs when i feel the need for some extra support (like at my union affiliated construction job). my original posting was more a comment than a complaint. and actually, now that i think of it i have given blood more than once when i was younger and my office had a blood drive. oops, i hope nobody accidentally got gay. maybe that person is now wearing the leather panties i guess i’m required to own.

19. J
    October 10th, 2007 at 10:28 am

    The gay issue…you know its because of HIV and the reason you get tested every 6 months is that it can come up anytime. And are you still having safe sex all the time? Didn’t think so.

20. Bhushan Ghate
    June 19th, 2008 at 2:33 am

    Hey guys I am Bhushan Ghate from Nagpur, India. I am suffering from anklyosing spondylitis since 1989 & i am bed ridden since 1996. I am interested in blood donation but cos of intake of painkiller i cannot donate blood. But in India only 1/3 of the require amount of blood is donated. So i want to create awareness among the people to donate blood. So any body can help me please tell me how to do. My email id is bhushanghate2007@gmail.com.

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