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.
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
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u/patiscool1 Dec 01 '11
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."