People

Sunita Bhatti and Michelle Andrews have both been along to blood donor sessions to find out what goes on there and to have a chat to some of the staff and the people who regularly give blood.

Listen to Sunita's story and find out some of the reasons that people decide to give blood

Michelle's story

There are plenty of ways to make a difference in someone's life, but I opted to give blood - you get to help someone else by lying down for a while and then having tea and biscuits. I think I might be rather good at this...

I thought I might convince a few people to come along with me, but that was harder than I imagined... One of the most common reasons I heard for not giving blood is that someone is scared of needles. Now this has never held much sway with me as my argument has always been that the people on the receiving end of the blood might not like needles either, but they don't have much choice in the matter.

I asked Pat Harvey, a Donor Care Supervisor, what she would say to someone that was thinking about giving blood but needed a little persuading:

"I always think 'what if it was me or mine in hospital and I needed it, where would I expect  it come from?' If you're a mum, just think, if my child fell off his bike or got hit by a car tomorrow, where would that blood come from? Don't wait until it's you or yours that need it basically." A powerful argument.

As it happens needles don't bother me in the slightest - I do however have a bit of a problem with cotton wool. Yes, I know. But I can't help it. It makes a terrible squeaking noise that goes right through me. So I was a little concerned that there might be the evil white stuff involved at some point. I was soon reassured though, they only use gauze and plasters - no problems there then. Time to get started.

Who, I asked Pat, can become a blood donor? "Basically if you're in good health, between 17 and 60 you can come and register to be a new donor. As long as you haven't travelled anywhere particularly exotic that might have a malarial risk. The best thing to do is ring the helpline number [0845 7711 711] and they will always advise you. A lot of people think they can't donate their blood when actually they can."

Next up a small blood sample is taken from one of your fingers to check the haemoglobin level. They only need literally a couple of drops for this.

I do naturally have rather cold hands and what with it being a bit nippy out they were freezing and not very forthcoming on the blood front, but with a bit of squeezing and coaxing the nurse managed to get enough out. If my donation goes anything like that, I could be here weeks.

Although I'm not scared of needles I don't have much time for pain. To put my mind at rest I had another question to ask Pat: Does it hurt?

"We do try to say no, but we'd be lying because you are having a fairly substantial sized needle put in your arm - you're going to feel something."

"It's not excruciating at all though - otherwise we wouldn't get people coming back 10, 20, 50 times." Good point. I can do this. Let's get it over with.

It turns out that it doesn't hurt that much at all, you just feel a bit of a prick, as it were. I do have to admit that I did make sure I was looking the other way while she put in the needle. Once it was in place I sneaked a look hoping to see the blood pumping from my arm. I was a little disappointed though as it just looked like dark red tubes.

So now I was connected up, how long would it actually take? "Depending on the size of your veins and how warm you are when you come in it can take anything from 5 to a maximum of 15 minutes to actually make the donation."

Marvellous. Time to put my feet up and listen to the radio then (although they did have it tuned to the wrong local station...). Plus you get another 5 or 10 minutes once you have finished the donation, just to give you time to recover and to make sure that you have stopped bleeding. "Just put some pressure on that for me" said Pat indicating the site where she'd just pulled out the needle. I don't want you to spring a leak later". That makes two of us.

Finally, the bit I've been waiting for. Tea and biscuits. It's actually more important than you might think, you're the best part of a pint of blood down, so it's essential to make sure you take on plenty of fluids and the biscuits help give your blood sugar levels a bit of a boost.

Pat had one final bit of advice for me: "You do have to take it easy for the rest of the day" Oh no, an evening in front of the telly. How am I going to cope??? This just gets better and better!

So there you are - now you know what happens and that it doesn't hurt (much) why don't YOU take an hour out of your day and give blood?

You can find out more, including session times and dates, by visiting the National Blood service website.