It is National Blood Week 8 – 14 June and here at the Damien Molony Forum we are supporting the Give Blood NHS campaign Missing Type.
The issue of blood donation is close to Damien’s heart, he first gave blood 12 July 2012 and has made a total of 8 donations since. He has inspired the Damien Molony fandom to donate with his twitter campaign and inspired us as a fansite to do what we can to help raise awareness and spread the word.
Hal even did his bit for National Blood week in 2013!
This year, Give Blood NHS are removing As, Os and Bs to help raise awareness of National Blood Week with the #MissingType campaign, to try to increase blood donations after a 40% decline in new blood donors over the past ten years.
We need over 204,000 new donors to come forward to replace people who can’t donate anymore and to make sure we have the right mix of blood groups.
You won’t miss it when you give it; but patients could miss it if you don’t. Do something amazing and save or improve up to three lives by giving blood.
If you’ve given blood before do something amazing today and book a session. If you’ve never donated then this is a great time to find out your blood type and visit a local event in your area.
Why not join the #MissingType campaign and remove the As, Bs and Os from your Twitter name or do something amazing and join Damien and countless fans inspired by him to #SaveALife and #GiveBlood.
Blood donations are the only source of blood for saving and improving the lives of patients with cancer, blood disorders and those suffering medical trauma or undergoing surgery. It only takes a short amount of time, is easier than you might think and comes with free biscuits afterwards!
For further inspiration, check out all eight of Damien’s blood donations below.
Donating blood really does save lives. If you are generally healthy, over 17 and want to do something that takes little of your time but truly makes a difference, don’t hesitate, take action today. Not only will you be doing something amazing, but you will also be helping Damien’s own campaign for increasing blood donations and if you send your photo to him on twitter, you are in with a chance of a Re-Tweet.
Visit blood.co.uk to find out where your nearest donation centre is and make an appointment today! Take a friend, take your whole family and help spread the word! If you are unable to give blood, you can still make a difference by sharing this message and joining the campaign to encourage others.
Will definitely be checking out if there is somewhere nearby doing blood donation soon. I've been twice in the past but only managed to give blood once due to slightly low iron.
Apparently people are having difficulty giving blood as there are not enough places you can visit. Some people just walk in and others have to make an appointment which can be several months away.
Pearl I had not heard that, and it would be a shame if that put people off. I live in a semi rural location and using the venue finder above just found 4 venues within 3 miles of me withing the next 3 days!
When I was able to give I liked being able to go when suited me and happily wait my turn, wasn't keen on appointment times, understand the reason but sure that doesn't help for a few reasons either...
The theme of this year’s campaign is "Thank you for saving my life". It focuses on thanking blood donors who save lives every day through their blood donations and strongly encourages more people all over the world to donate blood voluntarily and regularly with the slogan “Give freely, give often. Blood donation matters.” The campaign aims to highlight stories from people whose lives have been saved through blood donation, as a way of motivating regular blood donors to continue giving blood and people in good health who have never given blood to begin doing so.
The #MissingType campaign really seems to have caught on - I hope that it does result in more donations. I must admit I've felt a little left out as my name contains the wrong letters! And it seems that I made my last donation a week too early. Lol!
Donating blood is really the laziest way to make a difference to somebody's life that I can think of. You get to lie around for a few minutes whist people are really nice to you, and then they thank you profusely and give you tea and biscuits - always makes me feel like a bit of a fraud! And they are so apologetic if you can't donate! It is a little uncomfortable when they first put the needle in, but I'd rather give blood than (for example) have a smear test done any day of the week! (TMI? - sorry!)
But I have to agree with the previous comments about the difficulty in finding somewhere to make a donation. There isn't a centre conveniently close to where I live - they visit a local community hall every 3 months. You don't need an appointment, although they will encourage you to make one for the next session while you're having your after donation cup of tea. But I've often heard them turn away people without appointments because they have so many people waiting, and last time they only had 6 beds instead of the usual 9. If for some reason you can't make it then it's a 3 month wait until the next time they're in town. My husband used to donate at work, but they've stopped going there now too! If I couldn't donate locally I'm not sure I'd be prepared to make the hour long bus journey into Bristol - and I wouldn't want to drive - no matter how easy it is to actually make the donation.
I totally agree that everyone is super nice to you when you go to donate blood. The nurses make you feel really at ease. I felt a bit dizzy when I stood up so I had three nurses fanning me with clipboards at one point! A tad embarrassing but they were so nice about it.
The place I donated was a few minutes walk from my house which was ideal if you felt a bit 'funny' afterwards but it looks like me closest place now is right across town
That was such a huge regret telling them that I fainted.... wish I tried once more before saying it, but whats done is done. Anyone donating blood should feel extremely proud...
Aw fifi! You should have given yourself a temporary last name, with lots of Os As and Bs, from which you could remove the letters!
About the difficulty finding donation centres, Give Blood NHS would find that really useful feedback... I am sure that they would do anything they could to improve the situtaion but only if they know it is happening.
Comparing giving blood favourably over having a smear test sounds like a BRILLIANT marketing campaign to me fifi!