Many of us take our health for granted.  I know I do.  My family and I have had our share of down times, but overall have been very fortunate.

Many years ago, I found a way to share my blessings.  I became a regular blood donor.  My O- blood was in great demand.  Usually anyone, regardless of blood type, can use O- blood if necessary.  About 6 years ago, the director of the local blood bank approached me.  He had noticed that in addition to being O-, my blood was also negative for Cytomegalovirus or CMV.  As I understand it, CMV is a virus that most adults have been exposed to at some point in their life.  It may not even make you sick, or you won’t recognize it because it resembles many other illnesses.  Once you are exposed, you carry that CMV in your blood.   For most healthy people, CMV is not a problem.  For a young child or premature baby, it can be fatal.  Our local blood bank tries to schedule at least one CMV- donor daily to meet the blood needs of those babies.  One pint of my high test, O-, CMV- blood could help 4-5 of those babies at a time without regard to their blood type.  WOW!  

It doesn’t hurt.  I have huge, easy to see and use veins.  I fill the bag quickly.  It only takes about an hour total from my day.  I am now participating in a program that will allow me to give 2 units of red blood cells every 112 days.  The blood bank keeps only the red blood cells and returns the rest of the stuff to me.   Now I can help 8-10 babies every 4 months.  What an opportunity!  I gave my first ALYX donation on Thursday.

I want to share the experience with you.  We used my right arm this time, so the photos were not easy to take.  They got quite a kick out of watching me try to focus and snap!  

Giving Back

I know many people can’t give for various reasons.  It is not my intention to make anyone feel bad, but I would like to encourage anyone that can to GIVE.  If you need more information, let me know or contact your local blood bank.  Also, a ton of information is available online.

Thanks for letting me stand on the soap box this morning and share with you.