Eludius - the Blood Donor

Martin O'Malley - do you donate blood? I never see you bragging about donating blood. I hear you bragging all the time, though. But never about donating blood.

I donated blood today. I called today to learn how many times I've donated in my lifetime. I know I've donated twice with the Carolina Blood Bank, but the remainder of the donation are through the Red Cross.

Chris, the friendly fella at the Red Cross customer service center, said that I've donated 39 times. However, he said the records only go back to 1999. I know that I donated once as a senior in high school to help my friend Tom with his Eagle Scout project. I donated a couple times while at Harford Community College. I donated on the day the Alfred Murah building was bombed in Oklahoma City in 1995 while I worked at the VISA Assistance Center in Owings Mills. And I know I donated several times at American Amalgamated Corrugated Conglomerate of America prior to 1999.

So by estimation, I've donated 47 times. Not too bad. I know there are others that have donated much more. I've always felt obligated to donate blood. It's easy to do and I've never had any problems. But now that my daughter has leukemia and has needed blood and platelets I feel even more dedicated - to the point where I'm going around harassing other people to donate. And I just calculated it - a donation is roughly 1 pint of blood. 47 pints is 5.875 gallons. I've donated almost 6 gallons of blood in my lifetime! Hokey-smoke, Bullwinkle!

Funniest donation story - was actually when I donated the day of the attack in Oklahoma City. There was a young girl donating in the chair across from me. She didn't look too good. Sort of gray in the face. You could tell by her eyes that she was mentally all over the place as the blood drained from her body.

The phlebotomist (people who take your blood) kept asking the girl if she felt okay. The girl said yes. I don't even have an education in phlebotomy and I could tell she wasn't okay. Nonetheless when she finished they let her get up and instructed her to walk over to the table to get some juice and cookies. She took two steps then started staggering to one side until she was doing a face-plant on the linoleum. Yes, that's probably not too funny. But it is. They laid her down, got her fluids and she was eventually okay. But, duh, I knew she was going to pass out.