Next month I will celebrate my 29th birthday (August 1st) — It would bring me a whole lot of joy if you celebrated with me by participating in my virtual blood drive! The virtual blood drive will take place until the end of August.

Here’s my little schpiel on donating blood products: Donating whole blood usually takes less than 10 minutes, and your body will replace your red blood cells lost in 4-6 weeks on average. Donating platelets usually takes less than 2 hours, and your body will replace your platelets lost in less than a week! How often in life are you able to say that you helped save a life in <10 minutes or <2 hours?!

Perks of donating outside of helping save a life: Wherever and whenever I have donated, I have found the Red Cross employees and volunteers to be exceptionally kind and friendly. You will also get to eat from a selection of junk food after your donation. If you choose to donate platelets you will be able to spend those 1-2 hours watching TV or movies 😛.

In the years that I worked as a hospital tech and then RN I heard of and experienced many situations where a patient was in dire need of a blood product donation, but had to wait because the blood bank was low on supply, leading to worse patient outcomes. This happens all the time, the need for blood products is constant.

Once you make a pledge to donate as part of this campaign, the Red Cross will help you find a location and date/time that works for you. If you have any questions or hesitations about donating check out FAQ section https://www.redcrossblood.org/faq.html or reach out to me and I will happy to share about my experience 🙂.

Thanks so much in advance for considering donating!

Sending lots of love,
Sonia