Christmas Rocks

I am a Blood Donor and I Save Lives

D-Day (Donation Day), November 28, 2009. I was excited to go to the center and donate blood. I made sure to have gotten enough rest, as was listed in the Philippine National Red Cross website, and slept early the night before. My wife accompanied me to the center, an act of which I really appreciated since it was my first time to donate blood. She also brought her mp3 player so I could listen to her selections while I was having my blood extracted.

When we got there, we were awestruck with all the volunteers helping out with the project. There were volunteers from the Philippine National Red Cross, doctors and medical technicians, each performing their designated responsibilities on specific areas of the room within the VCF center: screening donors, filling up questionnaires, taking vital signs and facilitating the blood extraction. There were also volunteers from the congregation helping their fellow brothers and sisters: greeting volunteers and ushering them to the stations, assisting the Red Cross volunteers, supporting and commending those who are giving their pledge and inviting more members to support the project, and even giving their own blood donation. In the next room, everyone in the center got to help themselves to a nice cup of arroz caldo, complete with all the trimmings, and brewed coffee.

I greeted everyone in the center,and went through the screening process. Everything went smoothly as it should be. I was a bit anxious, since it is my first time to do this, but the only time that I felt a bit of discomfort was during the first part of the screening process. A med tech pricked the tip of my ring finger to check that I wasn’t anemic and also checked my blood type. After all the other necessary tests were done and information taken, I propped myself to one of the reclining chairs and had my blood extracted.

In less than 15 minutes, I had given 450 cc of life-giving blood to the Philippine National Red Cross. As my wife and I went home, I was so happy to have finally donated blood, to be a blessing to someone in need. Everything went smoothly that day for my first blood donation. Indeed, God was with us that day.

It turned out to be a successful bloodletting drive since according to Pastor Rommel, we had 25 donors! God had indeed opened the hearts of His people to give generously. With this, I would like to end my testimony with an invitation for everyone to join projects like this and be a blessing to others so you can be blessed in return, as commanded by Paul to fellow Christians from the church of Galatia: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:9-10).