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Blood is life.
It’s pretty much that simple: without it, we’re nothing. If we lose too much, it’s lights out. That much is pretty obvious, but there’s a lot more to the importance of blood that often gets overlooked.
Cancer patients, for example, can also often need blood transfusions through the chemotherapy process, some requiring it daily. With the average transfusion being three pints and donations only withdrawing one pint, basic math shows you that it takes three people to give blood for every one person who requires it.
That’s not to say a donation can only help one-third of a patient’s needs. Conversely, a single donation can help up to three people… but there’s nowhere near enough.
In the U.S. 38,000 blood donations are needed every day.
Accidents and injuries, surgical operations, chemotherapy, kidney dialysis, and many more causes place a huge demand on the nation’s blood banks. Yet, while almost 40 percent of Americans are eligible for donation, only two per cent actually give. That’s a statistic we should be ashamed of [1].
Taking only 10–15 minutes — and coming with a free cookie! — blood donation is quick and easy. It’s not painful — just one tiny jab and it’s over — and withdrawing only one-tenth of our blood, it has almost no effect on our wellbeing aside from a small potential for temporary light-headedness. Many people often find that they gain…
