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Running out of novel things to do now you've turned 18? Look no further!
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Yay it's great to see such a positive response! I was thinking of organising a blood drive in college, but seeing as about 75% of the students are foreign, they probably wouldn't be eligible (most of this 75% come from malarial regions). Might look into it after the exams.
that sounds awesome piste! i reckon go ahead with it, and whoever'll donate will donate.
and fair play to any and all of ye in this thread that've donated, im well impressed! it's one of those things ive always wanted to do, but can't because i had a few transfusions as a chiddler, and consequently can't guarantee that my blood's safe
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IronGirl92 wrote: »Wish I could But apparently they don't like the iron-less blood! Hopefully someday it'll come up to the level it needs to be though! :rolleyes:
I find your username very ironic.0 -
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Ginja Ninja wrote: »just wondering about this: I'm 18 in 2 weeks,and the FAQ says you need to be 18 to give blood,just wondering can I get a start on the paperwork before hand[they need to do blood tests etc. beforehand don't they?
nope, no head start needed. Paperwork is done on the day and they take the blood samples at the same time as they take your donation
you'll just have to wait in suspense I'm afraid =P 0 -
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Drank all the booze your liver can handle? Bought ciagarettes even though you don't smoke, just cos you could? Played the Lotto when you knew you had no chance of winning? Voted? Got a credit card? Seems like there's one thing left to complete your list of things you can now legally do, give blood.
I thought the last thing would be to go get a full driver's licence...
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I thought the last thing would be to go get a full driver's licence...
Can be done when your 17. Had mine 7 months to the day pretty much after I turned 17.
OT, I went to give blood, but my blood flow was too slow and they only managed to get enough for the test bag
. That was a few weeks ago and they said I can try again in about a month because it wasn't a full donation, so I'm definitely planning on going back soon. Was told to make sure I drink about 2 liters of water before I go on the day, as this should help. Hopefully that'll work anyway, I definitely want to become a regular donor, even if my blood type is the most common (O+). 0 -
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So I decided that it'd be nice to resurrect this thread, see if a few more people haven't turned 18 and are stuck for things to do. :pac: I had permission to drag it up, swears!
I was on the bus home after giving blood today, and while on the phone talking about said donation I was thinking about the stats. Thing is, roughly only 3% of the population give blood. ~25% of us will need a transfusion at some point in our lives, from what I've been told by the IBTS in the past. Doesn't really seem fair, does it? Of course, some people can't give blood for various reasons and circumstances - but many choose not to. I'm not here to rant about those who don't, because their choice isn't my business. I'd just like to play devil's advocate here and ask - do the people who are eligible to give blood, but choose not to, deserve a transfusion if they don't donate themselves (I'd like to say that I don't necessarily think this, I'm curious as to what others think!)?
Moving on from that - what about organ donations? Should you be eligible to receive an organ if you're not willing to be an organ donor yourself? Should we be automatically opted-in, with an opt-out clause that states that you're ruling yourself out from being eligible for a donation if you choose to remove yourself from the list?
Apologies if I'm not explaining myself properly, this idea is only a recent one. So what do you all think? I'll post my own opinion on it once I have one that makes sense.
If anyone has any other thoughts/opinions in general on blood/platelet/marrow/organ donation, please share! I'm considering the marrow registry (my veins are too bendy for giving platelets, apparently >_<), so if anyone knows anything about the process, I'd love to hear about it.
Oh, and if the mods want to move/split discussion or whatever, go ahead - this just seemed the most appropriate thread.
Give blood!
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crayolastereo wrote: »I can't give blood even if I was 18 because I'm under the weight limit Why is there a weight limit?
I'm not sure, but I'll hazard a guess at this one. Everyone donates the same, standard amount of blood - roughly a pint. It's not adjusted according to your weight etc. Also, it would be losing a larger percentage of blood for a smaller person, so a lot of side-effects could kick in - fainting, nausea, not to mention more serious ones. Not to say these don't happen to some people anyway, it'd just be more common the lighter you are, after losing a considerable amount of blood.0 -
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**Timbuk2** wrote: »Oh, I would love to do this. My mother's a nurse, and both my parents give blood regularly. I've never given blood before, so I wouldn't know what to expect but how bad could it be? I don't even know what blood type I am!
Honestly, it's not too bad. On your first visit, you have to essentially "register". You complete a form (mainly yes/no ticking the box, regular donors have to complete a similar form each time anyway), then you have an interview of sorts - just confirming you're well and healthy and everything on the form, and you'll have the opportunity to ask questions etc should you wish. That interview is for first-time donors and people who haven't donated in a long while. After the interview, you then have the Haemoglobin test. Basically it's like a pin-prick to your finger, the blood is taken and put into a little machine which gives the level in a matter of minutes. For guys, you need to have a level of 14g/dL or above; it's 12g/dL for girls.
Provided that your levels are sufficiently high (if not, you'll be asked to return in 3 months), you'll then get to the donation part. It's not too painful (just a pinch as the needle goes in, and again when it's taken out), and the donation process only takes a maximum of 15 minutes.
You get a letter out in the post with (I think) your donor card and that'll have your blood type on it - that's when you find out!
If you've any more questions, feel free to ask!0 -
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I’ve wanted to donate blood for ages but living out in the shticks means it’s really hard to get to the clinic when it comes around, which isn’t all that often really.
I was going to give blood last year in college when they had the mobile clinic there for the day but I wasn’t feeling well at the time so they probably would have sent me away and told me to come back when I was better and I also had zero time as well with lectures and buses to catch and stuff.
I feel bad though because I could have donated about 7 times by now if I had gone as soon as I turned 18. I’m not a big fan of needles but at the end of the day all it means is a bit of temporary discomfort for me whereas it could be the difference between another person living or dying. Also I’m curious as to what blood type I am.
I did the little quiz on the giveblood website and from that it appears I’m eligible so I’m going to donate as soon as I get the opportunity again. No excuses.
Some of the questions Aoibheann posted made me think about aspects of blood and organ donation I wouldn’t previously have thought about really. (Btw good on you Aoibheann for being so dedicated to donating!)
It’s weird that this thread has appeared because I’ve actually been thinking about organ donation lately, although I’m not really all that sure as to why it has popped into my head. It’s something I fully intend on doing. The way I see it is: I’ll be dead (or as good as.) My organs are viable. I don’t need them anymore. Others do. Desperately. There’s no point in letting perfectly good organs die and just letting them rot in a coffin in the ground. It doesn’t make any sense to me.
Like Novella said it’s not just the life or lives of those that receive an organ through donation that benefit: It’s the entire family of the ill person that benefit from it. There’s a huge increase in the quality of life for the whole family. Days and weeks that previously would have be wasted in hospital wards, waiting, suddenly don’t have to be. Families that previously couldn’t even go for a normal day out to the zoo or shopping in town - little things we all take for granted without even realising it - can now go on holidays abroad. And those that receive an organ can, obviously, lead much more active lives. Every few weeks you open the paper and read an article about someone that received an organ and how they are relishing their new lease of life and are raising money for organisations that helped them when they were sick by running marathons, cycling all over the country and climbing mountains. They are given a second chance at life and are making the most of it. I know I would much rather see someone raising the money for charity themselves than a loved one doing it in their memory.
I’m not sure if I agree if it should be compulsory for people to donate blood/organs. I think that overall there should really be more information out there about donating. I can’t remember the last time I saw an ad on the TV about donating blood/organs and it’s not often at all that it gets any mention in other media forms either. If there were more information readily available I think there would be much more people donating blood and carrying donation cards and it wouldn’t be necessary for it to become compulsory. If the government tried to introduce it as being somewhat compulsory I’d say they would be met with a fair bit of backlash from a religion aspect as Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions and it has resulted in deaths and court cases that have been fairly well reported in the media.
Senator Feargal Quinn submitted a Human Body Organs ad Human Tissue Bill back in September 2008 to much the same affect although I don’t have a clue if there has been any discussion of it since then. (It’s available on oireachtas.ie and is 19 pages long if anyone is interested in reading it.)
Then there’s the Dunne inquiry into the retention of deceased children’s organs without parents consent during post-mortems. This has left a huge negative impression on an entire generation and from hearing about it in the media the whole time a lot of people would be very cautious about organ donation because of it and I can’t really blame them either as no real answers have been provided in the inquiry as far as I can gather (parentsforjustice.com has more info on this too)
I wouldn’t really be all that comfortable with an alcoholic receiving a liver transplant before someone who was born with liver problems or developed liver problems due to other illnesses. Alcoholics have a choice in whether they drink or not and people that are born with serious medical conditions that require transplants simply don’t have a choice. (I know some people believe that alcoholism is a disease and that you can inherit it and be genetically predisposed to it etc. etc. but I’ll not get into that because I know nothing about it really and I hope I never will have to and it doesn’t have any place here anyway. At the end of the day someone born with an illness has no choice in the matter and just has to wait for a cure or a suitable organ to be found while damage to the liver caused by excessive alcohol consumption is preventable.)
I presume that those who do receive transplants have to be sober for a certain time period before they are considered eligible for a transplant and of course there should be proper after care and counselling available to prevent a relapse. In that case I don’t see why an alcoholic shouldn’t be allowed a transplant. For some people it takes hitting rock bottom and almost losing it all for them to really start living again and if an organ is available I don’t see why they should be denied it.
The same goes for people who don’t carry donation cards or donate blood. If they fall seriously ill or are involved in a life-threatening accident and there are ways of saving them then of course everything should be done to save them. Loads of people don’t think of donating blood or organs until it affects their lives directly and although it’s sad and it shouldn’t be the case, people shouldn’t be left to die when they can be saved.
Anyway I’ve waffled on far too much but I’ll finish off with some info I discovered through doing a bit of Googling:
Last Saturday (the 23rd of October) was the 12th European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation. It is hosted every year by a different member state with the aim of encouraging debate on the topic of organ donation and transplantation and the event was held in Tbilisi in Georgia this year.
Every year World Blood Donor Day is celebrated on the 14th of June, a date that commemorates the birth of Karl Landsteiner, who discovered the ABO blood group system and won a Nobel Prize for it. Spain hosted this year’s one. WBDD was first held in 2005. It was held in Australia in 2009, Dubai in 2008, Canada in 2007, Thailand in 2006 and the UK in 2005.
In the EU alone 50,000 people are on a list waiting for an organ donation. Every day, on average, 12 people die while waiting for a transplant.
A press release on runforalife.ie states that last year 261 people received organs through donations and that there are 600 people still on waiting lists. (This was dated July this year as far as I remember)
The incidence of Cystic Fibrosis in Ireland – 2.98 per 10,000 – is the worlds highest and it affects about one in every 1,600 children born here. Lung donations are, I would imagine based on that information anyway, are badly needed too, as well as kidney ones.
Also one last thing. If you are debating whether or not you want to donate blood then do this: On the giveblood.ie website there is a Peoples’ Stories section with about 18 stories detailing each person’s experience with blood donation/transfusions etc. Scroll down to the Brice Family Story which is about fourth from the end and read it and when you have finished reading it look at the picture underneath the text. I dare you not to well up. I gets me every time and it has me convinced to donate anyway. The other stories are well worth a read too.
That ended up being way longer than I intended and I’m not sure if it makes any sense. I’m awake about 30 hours straight at this stage so apologies if the above is incoherent.
Aaaaaand now I’ll shut up. 0 -
crayolastereo wrote: »
I don't know about the unless you're a donor no organs for you thing, because a lot of people just forget to register.
The thing is, even if you register and have a donor card and everything, it's still the decision of your next of kin when it comes down to it. And even if you don't have a card, they can still choose to donate. The card is essentially about making your wishes known, rather than meaning your organs will automatically be donated.
I think if you have parental consent you can do it from the age of 16 on.Y'know what's annoying? You've to be 18 to donate blood. Friend of mine who only turned 18 in September has been giving blood since he was 16.
I wanna donate my organs (if they're of any use...) when I die. And I'm in favour of an "opt-out" scheme when it comes to organ donation. Not eligible to donate blood though, gragh.0 -
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