With those thanks, however, she has added a request. Since Tuesday morning, Michael has required blood transfusions repeatedly - and blood banks across the country are challenged to respond to the demands placed upon them. Please, if you are eligible, take an hour and donate blood. If you don't know whether or not you are eligible, find out - the basic eligibility criteria can be found
here. For the donor, it only takes the equivalent of your lunch hour... but for the recipient, it can (and often does) mean life or death.
[snip]
... and give blood - please.
I am a regular blood donor. If you've never done it before, it's a pretty simple process. The donation goes a lot faster if you are very well-hydrated, so I always drink about 32 oz of water an hour before I donate. When I'm well-hydrated, my donation time is less than 10 minutes.
Does it hurt to donate? Not really. You feel the initial needle stick and your arm will sting for about 10 seconds from the betadine used to sterilize your skin. After that, you really don't feel anything. I always think that the minor pain I feel when donating is nothing compared to what the person who will receive my blood is feeling. It puts things into perspective.