Every month I am asking others to share with us how they have benefited from a random act of kindness as I complete my year of giving and this month we hear from Carol who blogs over at Virtually all sorts.
Are you able to give blood?
If you are, when was the last time you donated a pint?
I’m asking because, after 2 platelet transfusions, I’m not allowed to be a donor any longer.
When I was a donor, I would have my biscuit afterwards and wonder who would be receiving my blood and who would benefit (knowing that there are so many parts to our blood that can be donated for various reasons).
Years later I found myself in the position of knowing that there’s someone ‘out there’ somewhere who I will be forever grateful to… in fact 2 people…
Grateful not least for the 2 platelet transfusions that ultimately saved my life but they also saved my husband’s soul. And I don’t say that lightly. While I was ‘out of it’, being prepped for an emergency c-section, he was the one preparing himself for, well, he didn’t know what exactly.
But he dared to hope that he was preparing to welcome our daughter into the world. And he did. With me.
We will always be grateful to the wonderful nurses and other NHS staff and the blood donors.
These wonderful people saved my life when I had acute pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome at 37+1 weeks at the end of my complicated pregnancy. One day over being classed as a preemie.
I’ll always be grateful that we stayed in hospital for longer than most new mums on the ward and got almost one-on-one care. And I’ll always be grateful that we stayed on the ward and not in the special care unit because our daughter wasn’t classed as premature. We were on the ward due to my high blood pressure and recovery from an emergency section.
I’ll always be grateful that it was me who had to be monitored round the clock because I was the one who was so poorly, and that, aside from mild jaundice, our beautiful daughter was perfectly healthy.
I’ll always be grateful for the painkillers and my speedy recovery.
I’ll always be grateful for my amazing family.
I’m beyond grateful for the people who took time out of their busy lives, who went out of their way to give a pint of blood. It might have been their first time donating or their 100th time. However many times they had made a difference to someone’s life, that day they made a difference to my life, to my husband’s life, to our daughter’s life. That day they saved the life of a wife, mother, daughter, sister, niece, grand-daughter, friend.
What’s not to be grateful for?
If you want to know more information about how you can give blood please click here