Donating blood

This morning I headed down to the blood donor centre for what was supposed to be my 14th whole blood donation.

The process starts with a finger prick test to make sure your haemoglobin levels are high enough to donate. They need to be over 120. 3 months ago I think mine were 122 down from a whopping 133 when I was fresh off the plane from Argentina and its massive steaks.

Today I only managed 113. So I had to have second finger prick to see if they could get a higher result. 112. Then it was into the donation room for a blood test to make sure the finger prick was correct. That came back 111. And so now I'm not allowed to donate for 6 months while I build up some iron stores again. I see chicken liver pate on toast for breakfast in my future.

I still got a cup of tea and a squiggle biscuit for my efforts (or lack thereof) and a pretty darn good reason to sink my teeth into a steak at least once a week from now on. Being able to donate blood is important to me as...

80% of us will need a blood product in our lifetime
but only 4% of us actually donate.

It only takes an hour of your time every few months to give something that could end up saving someone's life. Perhaps even yours or someone that you know...