It's in the blood
19/06/07 11:03 Filed in: Musing
In the Andre Alexander photo above, I'm receiving a token from Mrs Zalyahar Hassanali, for donating ten pints of blood over the last four years. Mrs Hassanali and her late husband Noor were great patrons of the now defunct Photographic Industries Association of Trinidad and Tobago, on which I served for many years as an executive member and I once had the pleasure of photographing the Presidential couple for the Guardian, so our smiles have a little history.
Giving blood is a curious mix of the impersonal and deeply personal. The fluid is the most precious liquid you can surrender, but once it's bagged and stored, you have no idea what happens to it over its thirty day shelf-life.
Will it save someone's life? End up getting dumped because demand dropped that month? Become part of a blood deficient person's monthly supplement?
I became a voluntary donor thanks to the persistence of Bernadette Millien, now Williams, who was my secretary at the also quite defunct tabloid The Wire. Bernadette asked if the folks from the Mobile Unit could visit our offices and I agreed, because that tended to be the smart thing to do when Ms Millien came around with that look on her face.
Until then, I had given blood on two occasions and both recipients did not survive their surgeries. I think that experience coloured my blood giving experience and it wasn't until I had the opportunity to become a voluntary donor that I began to have a different perspective on giving blood.
Voluntary blood donations are still very much the minority way of refilling the Blood Bank's supply. I think there's a lot more to be done when people arrive to give blood for a relative for friend for the first time. That experience should be more engaging and welcoming and there should be more follow up on this large pool of potential return donors.
As a known blood donor, I've found that it makes you a magnet for people in need, since the little yellow card you're given allows you to share the blood you've donated.
Over time, I've become a little resentful of being in that position. Some people legitimately can't give blood for all kinds of little reasons you might not think of. I was once rejected because I had taken a pill for a headache less than 24 hours before my appointment. But there are many more people who can and don't.
I'm still short of my goal, donating twice my blood content. and even now, I can't say that I approach the experience fearlessly. I know this was once medicine, and The Tudors will probably do much to bring blood pouring out of your arm back in vogue. I don't much care about that big needle that draws the blood, but own personal agony is the tiny pin prick on the tip of my finger that draws a single drop of my blood to test for iron content. Why is there no anaesthesia for that?
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