I’ve been frightened of needles for as long as I can remember. I get so anxious that I develop this weird and uncontrollable laugh, whimper thing, and have even been known to have blood not come out of my veins properly because they’re so tense that so often I have to get jabbed twice. Fun times.
But this year, I decided that there was a feeling stronger in my life than fear. And that was my desire to be part of the amazing group of people who save and change lives by being a blood donor.
The stats say it all really. 1 in 3 Aussies will need blood in their lifetime, but currently only 1 in 30 donate. And I’m not sure if you know, but every time you donate you can save up to 3 lives…. THREE!! Let that sink in friends. 3 people will live because I chose to feel anxious for 30mins. Woah! Donations are also used to help cancer and blood disease sufferers, road trauma victims, pregnant women as well as brain and open-heart surgery patients just to name a few. Pretty cool, huh?
I decided to take the plunge and film the whole thing (guinea pig style) to help show all my fellow anxiety sufferers and needle fear-ers (yes, that’s officially a word now) that not only is it possible for us to give blood, but it is no way near as scary as we think. In fact, I’m going to be as bold as to say that if you’re using being scared of needles as an excuse to why you don’t give blood, I hope this video challenges you to throw that thinking out because even though we wish it wasn’t, blood donation is our responsibly too. To keep up with Australian demand, 25,000 Aussies need to give blood each week (yup, each WEEK!) So, this really is something we don’t have the luxury to simply dismiss as “not our issue”.
The Red Cross Blood Donation Centre on Ryrie St is now open on Saturdays which means any day of the week, you can walk in and literally become a life saver. The staff are super friendly and there to support you 100% of the way… and you get free snacks ;). SO! No more excuses, it’s time to get amongst it, Geelong! If I can do it, you can too and 3 people will be very, very, VERY thankful that you did.
Watch the video on our youtube channel https://youtu.be/5PGe0EkxEpo
Story: Kim Elise Cooper blogger on Instagram at thishotmessau. Videography: Jesse Malthouse blogger on Instagram at theJesseMalthouse.
HuG 