I did hear about the huge need for donors and since I do not like to see blood or needles and I can faint, I was not very keen in becoming a donor for life or a regular donor. I was going to Seminary in Portland, Oregon when the USA blood donor service organization came to Multnomah to recruit blood donors. My first blood donation was not a great experience and I almost fainted and I had to lay down. When I came back to Canada I did not become a donor for a couple years. I would hear about the huge need for donors and on Oct 3, 2001 I became a whole blood donor and it was a good experience. I donated 46 whole blood units when I was recruited to become a platelet donor. This was not a great experience because for some reason I have a low count and because of that I would need to be in the chair for two hours. I would see other donors who have a high count be out in an hour. I did this for eight donations. Then I was recruited for plasma. As far as I know plasma is your second highest need because unfortunately less than 25 per cent that is needed in Canada is collected from Canadian donors. I have been donating plasma regularly and I have done 416 plasma donations right now. Because of this huge need for plasma there is now a for-profit company called Canadian Plasma Resources. They pay their donors and they encourage their donors to go twice a week. I used to go Mondays and Thursdays and have had 29 donations with them. However, this for-profit organization prefers young people and so I was not allowed to donate with them anymore. Initially I thought maybe I am not allowed with Canadian Blood Services as well but after I looked into it I found out that I am still healthy enough to be a regular donor for once a week. My audacious goal is to reach 1,000 donations. Not sure this is possible, but I will try as long as my health holds out and I do not need any medications that are on the do not donate list.
