The Best Gift of All....

Like Winston Churchill said . "“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”....

Sometimes I need to say that too. 

Tears, toil and sweat are almost mandatory in Mumbai, whether one likes it or not. Given the messed up infrastructure, crowds, and the weather.  And when it comes to blood, whether in wartime or peacetime, one way for ordinary folks like us to give blood , is to "donate blood"....

I was initiated into this 42 years ago as a young adult in Pune. My parents recommended such things.  The late 60's  was wartime in the country, our college, one of Pune's finest, had organized a blood donation, and we went in droves.  The experience was interesting to say the least, and some of us  learned that we could withstand the sight of 350 cc's of blood, without falling into a dead faint.  I followed that up    off and on , and today, my children do the same.  It helps if you stay in an institutional area where proper camps are arranged with safeguards, instrumentation, attending doctors, and  adequate patient care and excellent documentation and checking of individuals. 

I have known folks, fairly well educated,  who avoid talking about this. They alarm their kids, albeit unknowingly, with misinformation. Mobilizing blood donors to  contribute for a friends  major surgery, and trying to do the transport arrangements, some folks I knew well, even started crossing the road away from me, seeing me come by.  

A few young folks , curious about all the noise and rushing around, came to ask details . Can you get up and walk afterwards ? Do people faint ? How long does it take ? Does it hurt ?  Will I miss classes the next day ?   What about getting infections through the syringe needles ?  Can I go to work straight from there ?

Yes. Anyone above 18yrs who weighs 45+ kgs and has a hemoglobin count of more than 12.5 can donate. Remember, there is no factory to produce blood except the human body.  Every unit of 350ml blood collected saves 3 lives, the 350ml is buffer blood in our body and is re-generated within 24 hours.  Today, a fresh disposable syringe/needle is used for every person, who is deemed fit to be a blood donor. 

You are queried about your medical history, medications, etc. Your weight, blood pressure and haemoglobin is checked and recorded , your blood group is ascertained, and those satisfying the set criteria are allotted a specialized blood collection bag. You then lie down as instructed, quietly squeezing a rubber ball in the donating hand, and your blood pressure is constantly monitored. I have seen folks nonchalantly messaging away on their phones and playing games with the free hand while the blood donation is in progress.  Nothing dramatic happens, your 350 cc is collected in no time, and they disconnect all the paraphernalia and ask you to lie down for sometime.  Ointments/tiny tapes are put where you were poked by the needle.  

You then relax in an area where they serve you  tea, coffee. fruit juice and biscuits.  You are ready to go.  To work, to school, home , anywhere. I know someone who even went swimming after 2 hours.  The personnel at these places are almost always gracious,polite and grateful to you.   You get a card as a blood donor with details.  Should anyone ever need blood, your card will entitle them to a bag of blood, no questions asked.  Those who have had to mobilize blood for  major surgery at one of the lesser hospitals will know what I mean. 


This time , it was at one of the most upmarket areas near us. A very posh supermarket near  fancy shopping areas and coffee shops, alphonso mangoes cascading on show outside, cars driving up to a hotel , with valet parking happening, and folks in their casual Sunday best ambling in to shop. 


 Those like us who knew about this event and came specifically for it, went ahead with the process. As usual , I was rejected because of age , but the daughter sailed through and donated her blood. 

This was an event specifically to help people who had Thalassemia.  This is a disorder of the blood, where the patient has problems with the haemoglobin in the blood. This affects carrying of oxygen all over the body, and the thalassemia patient needs to have blood transfusions every 15 days. Which causes its own problems with iron stores in the body.   There are 1 lakh thalassemic chidren in the country and a thousand of them are receiving regular transfusions in Mumbai alone.  To know more about this please see this.  


There was a steady stream of folks coming in, mostly young, many of them ladies,  but many in their 50's and 40's too.  And there was a wait for beds. Which was great......


Outside, in the sun, a  midsize car swathed in a huge banner announcing the blood donation event was parked at a vantage point.  There were these young folks standing outside holding placards saying "Donate Blood" in glorious red and white.  Almost marketing the event. 

I've never seen this before.  Real time marketing of the event.  Yes, there are normally welcome arches, and folks volunteering services, but inside the venue, with the documentation, refreshments, assisting the desk people etc etc. I have never seen anyone standing outside  and urging folks to go in.


But this was like advertising the event, looking so much a part of the supermarket ads announcing deals and stuff.  

It can be insensitively abused. 

Visions of "Donate blood and get 1 dozen mangoes free" or what is worse, some unscrupulous educational institution coming up with  "Show cards for 2 blood donations and get 10 marks added to your total" .......  (I've known of people who showed up 5 times for some  social service class in Dharavi as part of NSS, in the late 90's,  and added 5 marks (or was it 5 percent?) to their already outrageous totals , now exceeding 100 as a result. Happens only in India....)

There are no deals in blood.

Donating has to be completely voluntary. 
 
But we are a country where folks are blind to blood when its a matter of their life, death or surgery, but very much aware of it when they query the biological background of an adopted child of marriageable age. 

So much of  educating of the public still required .....