When you’re young, every year brings new privileges and opportunities. I remember the discussions my friends and I would have in our middle-school cafeteria, sharing our plans for some magical future birthday. “I’m going skydiving when I turn 18,” or “I’m so going to Vegas when I’m 21.” Then I’d chime in with my own “grown-up” goal: “On my 17th birthday, I’m going to donate blood.”
It seemed like an odd birthday celebration to most of my peers. After all, mandatory inoculations at the doctor’s office seemed bad enough. What sort of strange, masochistic person would willingly subject herself to a needle unless it was absolutely necessary? Why would a child look forward to donating blood?
I think the reason may stem from the desire for free cookies. My mother has been a regular donor for years, and accompanying her to church blood drives is one of my earliest memories. While she filled out the paperwork and pumped pints, my brother and I ran around on a sugar high, courtesy of the complimentary cookies. As children who were forced to eat healthy food at home, the opportunity to feast upon cookies and sodas was quite a treat.
At some point, Mom pointed out that the cookies were actually intended for the people who had donated blood. The connection must have been quite simple for a child to make: give blood, eat junk food. The promise of sugary goodness, combined with the desire to be “just like Mommy” (a desire which has waned somewhat over the years), were the earliest factors in my decision to be a blood donor.
As I grew older, I learned that the reasons to donate went beyond cookies. The thought of people suffering makes me ache. It follows that I get immense satisfaction from helping alleviate suffering in any way I can. Blood transfusions save 4.5 million lives every year, and the one pint given during a typical donation can help up to three people. Knowing statistics like these, I couldn’t imagine not donating. It was incredibly frustrating that I had to wait until age 17; I was eager to do my part.
It is a part that needs desperately to be filled: According to blood centers throughout the nation, approximately 60 percent of the population are eligible to give blood but only 5 percent actually do. The Red Cross and other such organizations see an amazing surplus of donors after tragedies such as Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina, which is wonderful, but it is a given that Americans respond to that sense of civic duty and charity in times of crisis. Accident victims, cancer patients, and premature infants need blood transfusions every day. It’s simple. A healthy individual gives less than an hour of their time, sharing something that their body can easily replace, and that small sacrifice saves lives.
With so many good reasons to donate blood, then, why do 95 percent of Americans choose not to? Some are ineligible for a variety of reasons: a history of drug usage, disease, unsafe sexual behavior, etc. The top excuses given by eligible non-donors are that they are too busy, afraid of needles, or that they simply have never thought to donate. Yet the opportunity to save a life trumps all of these excuses. While many people are extremely busy in today’s hectic world, a visit to the local blood center takes no more than an hour. A little time out of your schedule every eight weeks, a few minutes in a situation that may seem slightly uncomfortable, and someone receives a new lease on life.
So on my birthday last year, I was ready, willing and able to donate my first unit of blood. I asked my parents to sign the permission slip required for underage donors, and then went to Bonfils Blood Center in Boulder for the first of many donations. The entire visit took about half an hour, and was virtually painless. I felt absolutely exhilarated after the procedure. Small as it may have seemed, I had done something to alleviate someone’s suffering.
And I got a cookie.
Emily Spearman is a senior at Fairview High School in Boulder.
