Honouring Our Lifeblood

Blood they say, is the gift of life. They also say... we all have it in us to give and many people in our area are generous givers. I saw that first hand last month when I was asked to be the MC for the Canadian Blood Services Donor Awards Ceremony at Lily Lake Pavilion in Saint John. This is an annual event honouring those people who have reached milestone donation levels of 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400 and even 500 blood donations. In addition a bone marrow donor and some of the organization's community partners were also honoured. It was an amazing evening of giving.

These regular, long time donors recognized at the awards are all truly exceptional individuals. You could see that in every one of them who came up to accept their award. The highlight of the evening had to be the presentation to Kenneth Gould, the second New Brunswicker ever to have donated blood an astonishing 500 times. The day he made that 500th donation he showed up at the clinic wearing a tuxedo. Ken received a group hug on awards night from all the staff present. In fact it was clear that all of these long time donors had developed a special kind of relationship with the staff at Blood Services. That only makes sense because to donate that often you make a lot of visits to the centre and you do become, in a sense, part of the family. That was evident at the Lily Lake Pavilion.

I started donating blood again about two years ago. For a long time I was under the impression I couldn't donate because of the medication I was taking for asthma. It turns out that used to be the case but isn't any longer. In fact the rules regarding who can give are changing constantly. The chances are pretty good that you are eligible to give blood. Giving blood isn't easy for everyone. Even for these regular donors it still takes a commitment of time and even if they don't admit it, some personal discomfort. I don't think anyone really enjoys having their finger pricked to test their blood, or answering all those personal health and lifestyle questions required before every donation. And getting a needle put in your vein and bleeding into a bag for the next ten minutes isn't like watching your favorite TV show in an easy chair. Personally I get freaked out by having my blood pressure taken. That tight squeezing feeling of the cuff around my arm drives me crazy and my blood pressure up. Sometimes it takes two or three tries before they get a reading low enough to allow me to donate. The truth is I'm not very good dealing with anything that has to do with blood. It makes me uncomfortable. And yet I'm willing to put up with it on occasion because I know it's the right thing to do. I always feel great after I've given blood.

My donations are just a drop in the bucket or bag, compared to what these regular donors honoured at the awards ceremony have given over the years. I just can't imagine 500, 300 or even 50 donations. But people do it. We can all do it. Even just giving blood a few times makes a difference. It's all about saving lives and we can play a part in that by just rolling up our sleeve.

So my congratulations and thanks go out to all the blood donors named at the awards. That night I made a public commitment to donate on a regular basis. It used to be easier to do because clinics were held regularly in Grand Bay-Westfield. You got a call to set up an appointment and just showed up at either the legion or the middle school. But that bi-monthly clinic was canceled recently and hasn't been rescheduled. I hope it comes back because that makes it a lot easier to give regularly but even if it doesn't I'm going to try to go to the clinic in Saint John every time I'm eligible to give blood again.

When you really think about it... donating blood on a regular basis is probably the best gift you can give to others.