I am truly honored. I hope every blood donation I gave was able to help save a life. I always wonder about how the recipients are doing, and what circumstances led them to need a life saving blood transfusion. The blood bank keeps all of that private for security reasons, of course, along with the name of the donors who donate. I just hope it all helped.

  • brossman@infosec.pub
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    6 months ago

    i get a certificate after every gallon but who gives a shit about that…one time i got a stick of bologna after a single blood donation, that was the best.

  • LSNLDN@slrpnk.net
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    6 months ago

    I would have wondered if in the USA since you don’t have free healthcare surely they should pay you for your blood ¯ \ (ツ)

    • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 months ago

      I actually do have free healthcare. Or close to it. I have a free insurance plan because I’m so poor this year. The blood bank can’t pay its donors. They have to employ the people that draw blood and that costs money. The process of the blood transfusions are expensive to the recipients and they get billed for that. It would be nice if tax dollars could at least cover patient costs. I don’t mind donating for free if it saves a life.

    • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 months ago

      Wow. A person can only donate about 6 times per year, since whole blood is allowed every eight weeks. How old was the donor? I mean 33.333… years of donations, right, and that’s if he never missed a chance to donate. If he started donating in high school at age 16, then he would be about 49 to 50 years old, right?

      • TerribleTortoise@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        It wouldn’t have surprised me if he was in his early 60s.

        One of the ways you can get your numbers higher is with platelet donation. A donation via plateletpheresis can occur every few weeks. They basically take blood out, process out the platelets and pass the blood back into you, which results in less of an impact to the donor vs a standard whole blood donation.

        • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.worldOP
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          6 months ago

          My blood bank has a separate donor reward list for platelets and plasma. They’re always in need of that, too. I can’t donate for that, though. I’m O-. They told me they want AB+ for either platelets or plasma, I think. I think my ex boyfriend said he used to donate for that. I think they take A+, too. It’s weird to be the universal whole blood donor type, but not be able to give to any other cause for donation (platelets or plasma).