My Blood Donation Journey & The Importance Of Latino Blood Donors

Last week we wrote about the importance of Latino blood donation, but this week I wanted to share my experience donating last week. I’ve been donating blood regularly since I was in college which — dare I say it — was 10 years ago. My mother worked in a blood bank growing up, so I understood the importance of blood donation early, but when I had a phlebotomist once personally thank me because his life was saved by blood donors like myself once, I was hooked.

Donating blood is a super simple, easy and practically painless thing you can do to — literally — save someone’s life, so why wouldn’t you donate?

In my case, blood donation is sometimes hard because I have small veins that are deeply buried in my arms, but regardless I consider this to be a super duper important thing to do as regularly as I can. It’s important to drink lots of water in the days leading up to your donation, eat a big meal before you go (I ate a big breakfast and then a snack before I went), and make sure to have some juice or something before you leave the donation site.

Also, I wanted to make a note that they ended up having to prick both of my arms when I donated because one arm didn’t work — but that’s pretty not normal. As I mentioned, I just have small veins, so this has happened to me before. I was glad I was able to donate, though, because my body by now has made up the liquid volume no problem, and who knows? I could have saved someone’s life since I typed up this blog!

If you want more information about blood donation, check out the links at the end of the video!

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Screenshot And Video By News Taco]

Subscribe today!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Must Read