Recently, I was telling a friend that I have decided that when I eventually kick the bucket I want to donate what ever functioning body parts they can get off me… now I know that this isn’t everyones cup of tea, but I was stunned when I realised that although I was happy to give up my bits (honestly I’m pretty sure they are already worn out) once I’ve passed on.. I hadn’t even considered doing it while I was still alive! No, no don’t worry I’m not about to cut off my arm or anything… I’m talking about donating blood!

I’m not sure why I never really considered it, I just thought that others were doing it and so I was sure that the small amount they would get from me wouldn’t really count for much.

It was such a shock to find out at a close family members funeral recently that after a lifetime of trauma – where everything and anything in life could go wrong, did – that he was going to the Red Cross every second week to donate plasma and even donated his bone marrow to a lady he had never met before, that although this took up a lot of his time he gladly went and would have donated much more if he could..

This brave young man, who I would not have blamed at all to be mad with the world after all he had been through – gladly gave whatever he could, whenever he could – he never told anyone what he was doing, he just wanted to help. I know that he didn’t do it for the glory or the accolades or for what others thought of him, he did it because he could and it made him feel good about himself.

This is the thing, when you feel like you are doing something worthwhile, you walk with a little spring in your step, you hold your head up a little higher, you feel good about yourself.

Do you know that only 1 in 30 people donate blood in Australia but 1 in 3 need it. If you can donate blood, why not give it a go! Get more information here!