50th Blood Donation

2024-08-12

Last week I was donating blood. At the check-in I was greeted with additional piece of paper to fill out. I may have looked a bit puzzled, because I was told that this is good news. I will get rewarded¹, because this is my 50th Blood Donation with the Red Cross.

50 Blood Donations …

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

Since both my father and my grandfather achieved more than 100 donations, there was a bit of pressure 🙂

Thus, over the past 18 years I was donating blood more or less regularly. Frequency highly depending on the availability of possibilities to donate. In the city I lived when I was 18, there was a university clinic and you could come by donating blood any day of the week. I donated a lot back then. When I moved to Bamberg to study, the Red Cross only came by once per month with a mobile donation station. If I already had plans for this day, I needed to wait for another month for the next possibility. My donation frequency dropped.

In the city I live today, mobile donation units come by on a more regular basis. I need to check their schedule and plan ahead, but at least I have more than one chance per month.

As a male adult, I am allowed to donate up to six times per year. This was my fourth donation this year and I think that I’ll make at least one more. Keeping this frequency (~5/y), I will need another 10 years to come up with 100. Fingers crossed 🤞

If it has been some time since you donated blood the last time - and your health allows it - please check out if there is a possibility near by. We may all need it at some point and it’s a very easy way to give something back to society.