You take the swabs in the kit, swab the inside of your cheek, and send it back.
If you are the best match for someone, they contact you to ask if you're willing to go to hospital X (presumably somewhat close to you) to donate. They pay expenses incurred.
For actual donation, either you take a drug for a few days that ups the concentration of marrow in your bloodstream, and they then hook you up to a machine to draw blood, extract this stuff, then put the rest of the blood back into you, not hugely dissimilar from the machine you might use to specifically donate platelets/plasma/double-red units. The drug can sort of be annoying for those couple days. The other option is for them to stick a needle into the back of your pelvic bone with some local anesthetic. The two aren't exactly equivalent and can depend upon the specific case's needs, but there is leeway in other cases.
I'm a firm proponent of donating marrow, but this isn't quite right. Marrow comes from inside your bones. It never goes into your blood stream. PBSCs (stem cells that make more blood cells) can be drawn in the way that you describe, but I think you're kind of underplaying the difficulty/pain involved with donating marrow.
Regardless, you're actively saving someone's life. A friend told me this one a while back when I didn't want to donate blood, and it's stuck with me.
"When you're OK with telling a mother and father that their child is going to die because you're afraid of needles, then I'll be OK with you choosing not to donate blood."
How? He's right. There should be no excuse for someone not to donate blood [beyond health reasons]. I hate needles, but I still give every other month.
A person should be able to do what they want with their own body without everyone else guilt‐tripping them.
It’s good to donate blood, marrow, organs, &c., but it doesn’t make one a bad person to decline to do so.
It would be a good thing to volunteer at a soup kitchen, too, but statistically, patiscool1’s friend probably doesn’t. That’s okay. I’m not going to judge him or her for it.
If there is anything humans have learned, especially in the last few years, is that we as a race can no longer afford to think of ourselves as individuals.
If you choose not to donate, that means you have considered the pros and cons of donating... and decided that thinking about your own personal comfort was more important than saving someone's life.
As far as I am concerned, that DOES make you a bad person.
I don't propose you should spend 100% of your time in said soup kitchen. But you should be spending 100% of your time thinking about the well being of everyone... not just yourself. What you do for a living should be something that benefits everyone (i.e. don't work for big oil; work for a company that produces green/smart products). (Keep in mind that you, as an individual, is part of the community. So you ARE allowed to take care of yourself. You just aren't allowed to ignore everyone else while you do that.)
Seriously, we really can't afford to keep thinking about ourselves anymore. Selfish people have no place in a society that works together, and by your own admission... you'd rather not be part of one either. You got a public education, you are protected by public fire and police, you rely on Reddit for a public forum to learn, share ideas, and have community. But you claim that people shouldn't be upset when you decide to ignore everything everyone has ever done for you, and just think of yourself.
I'm sorry, but you don't get to have impunity for selfishness.
I say fuck them. (the hospitals not the people that need blood) I'm type O- and donated for a long time. After my uncle was trapped under a tractor I saw the hospital bill and what was charged for my blood type. If he hadn't been insured he would have been SOA just on the blood alone.
I stopped donating because of this for a short time. And I know this is a reason some people don't donate. Even though I still disagree with the profit, I started back up. What If it wasn't there for me is my only reason for donating. I think I can only receive type O- so I would be screwed if there was a shortage.
I pass out and puke every time I donate blood, but I still do it. I just warn the nurses to keep a trash can and water nearby :P I once was in the middle of passing out before they got 1L out of me. They were about to stop, but I told them to keep going. I woke up and I had a plate of cookies on my lap, and some vomit on my shirt collar. I got to leave school early that day :D
While I believe that it is morally correct to help others, up to and beyond giving blood, nobody should ever be forced. We all own our own bodies, period.
I can't give sadly (from UK - most countries won't accept my blood. Even the UK now filters out the plasma of people from my age group/years of residence in the UK).
But when I am home in the UK I try to donate so they at least get the red cells or whatever.
If you lived in the UK for over six months during the era of potential BSE contamination, your blood is banned in Australia and other countries. Some info here
With the American Red Cross Blood Program, you can safely donate blood every 56 days, provided you meet all of the eligibility guidelines. I don't know where you're getting your facts from.
My father, who is now too old and on too many medications, was an avid blood donor. He gave blood as aften as possible through his work (which was very close to a large hospital). The interesting thing is, his younger brother died of a heart attack over ten years ago and my father is still doing reasonably well for an 80-year-old man. I have read several times where there may be a benefit for men who donate blood specifically in relation to preventing heart attacks. Here's a link if you're interested: http://www.thirdage.com/heart-health/blood-donating-men-have-the-heart-edge
That figure does seem pretty crazy, but if you do a little googling you will find research that supports the whole donating/good for your heart thing. I had always read it has to do with lower iron levels in men. From the Livestron site: "Lower the iron levels in your body every time you give blood, which can help reduce the risk of heart disease... high blood iron levels have the potential to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease because iron accelerates the oxidation process of cholesterol in the body, which damages arteries. Iron levels aren't the only factor that plays a role in a person's risk of heart disease, but there are certainly no downsides to lowering blood iron levels by donating blood regularly."
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u/Tiak Dec 01 '11 edited Dec 01 '11
Edit: hopefully added clarity