81. Donate blood
When my dad had a brain aneurysm 6 years ago, he was in the Neuro ICU for 6 weeks, had 5 major surgeries, internal bleeding complications and received a total of 13 units of blood. That's 13 people who took the time to give something very personal to save his life. I'm eternally grateful.
This morning I headed over to the local hospital with my friend Liene to give blood. A couple years ago, when I was writing my 101 in 1001 list I put this goal on it, not because it's some monumental achievement I wanted to accomplish--I've given blood before--but because I wanted to make sure I DID IT. Looking back, it's kind of sad that all I wanted to do was give blood ONCE in 1001 days, but at least it's a start. I tend to make it a big deal in my head but it's really not bad--it took an hour and 15 minutes of my day and a teensy-tiny bit of discomfort. On my next 101 in 1001 list I plan to make it a goal to give blood every 6 months.
Poor Liene got to the part where they pricked her finger to test for iron and she found out that she was too low on iron--most likely due to overdosing on coffee--to give today:
When my dad had a brain aneurysm 6 years ago, he was in the Neuro ICU for 6 weeks, had 5 major surgeries, internal bleeding complications and received a total of 13 units of blood. That's 13 people who took the time to give something very personal to save his life. I'm eternally grateful.
This morning I headed over to the local hospital with my friend Liene to give blood. A couple years ago, when I was writing my 101 in 1001 list I put this goal on it, not because it's some monumental achievement I wanted to accomplish--I've given blood before--but because I wanted to make sure I DID IT. Looking back, it's kind of sad that all I wanted to do was give blood ONCE in 1001 days, but at least it's a start. I tend to make it a big deal in my head but it's really not bad--it took an hour and 15 minutes of my day and a teensy-tiny bit of discomfort. On my next 101 in 1001 list I plan to make it a goal to give blood every 6 months.
Poor Liene got to the part where they pricked her finger to test for iron and she found out that she was too low on iron--most likely due to overdosing on coffee--to give today:
But I passed all the tests and was able to give! Here's me loving on my juicebox after the deed was done:
I guess Christmas time is a season where blood banks are typically running pretty low--both because of increased injuries and people being too busy to give. So if you can spare an extra hour of your time in the next week or so to give, I would encourage you to do so! If not, make it a goal for the future by writing it down now. That's the only way I find that I'm able to be intentional and make sure these types of things happen!
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