Blood donation

It was a typical Saturday morning for me. I was up at 5:30 and out of the house by 6:30, heading to the blood bank for my platelet donation. The deer were on the side of the road munching on the green grass and paying no attention to the cars driving by. I arrived to be blood bank at 10 till 7 and am amazed to see that there are no other cars in the parking lot. Usually there are 5 or so cars. I park and walked up to the building and see all of the usual faces.

John greets me as usual and knows my name before I even give him my ID. (That is impressive given his advanced years.) I fill out my paperwork and Shari checks me in. I get to the donation room and there are staff sitting all around with nothing to, how sad. This time of year it is so important to keep the supplies going. The truth of the matter is people are going out of town or have family in town and don’t take the time for the donation.

I sat down and selected my movie. I watched Ghost of Girlfriends Past. It was very funny movie. I turned down the shirt post donation. I have so many shirts at home I don’t have room for any more. I went to the snack room to have a juice and coffee before leaving. That is when I met Mr. P.

He walked around the corner and smiled before having a seat across from me. His grey hair was cropped in military style and he was dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. He appeared to in his seventies. I struck up a conversation with him. He was there to give platelets. He explained that he would organize the blood drives at his work and someone mentioned to him he could give platelets. He said that he gives his 24 times a year and has been since he doesn’t know when.

I am certain that Mr. P must have at least 60 gallons of blood product donations. That simply amazes me. I went over 19 gallons with this donation and still have a few more donations to go before I reach my 24 for the year. Mr. P is my new hero. He takes the time to give of him self to help others for so long. I hope I can follow his example and keep giving as long as I am able.

I often think of the lives that I have touched with my donations. Who received my blood product and why? Were they young or old? Were they a good person? Did they survive what ever the reason for the need of my blood product? I will never know.