Speech I gave in my communications Class:
Like boys his age, 8 year old Christopher Brown goes to school everyday, plays with friends and loves sports. Yet with his vivacious smile and sparkling eyes, Christopher’s existence is a story of exceptional triumph over the odds. For nearly half of his life he has battled with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic systems, and has needed numerous single-donor platelet transfusions to help him to recover. Christopher was only 4 years old when he was diagnosed. Three weeks later he was undergoing chemotherapy treatments and platelet transfusions to strengthen his body against the disease. The chemotherapy and single donor platelet transfusions helped Christopher to go into remission only months after his initial diagnosis. Christopher has now been in remission for one and half years and is now a normal growing child. Christopher’s grandmother asks the question “How do you thank a donor for helping a child to have life. There are no words. Thank you just isn’t enough. I don’t know if donors realize how thankful Christopher and I are that they donate their platelets. We were lucky that there were enough donors for him to live.
Blood donations saved the life of Christopher Brown. Without blood donors, 4.5 million Americans would die in the United States each year. Only 5 % of eligible donors in the US give blood. Many people don’t give blood because they don’t know what is involved in the process and that they could save the life of someone in the world or even someone in their own family. Donating blood is safe and easy and saves lives. I plan on giving you information on what is involved in the process and why it is safe and easy. Then I will give you reasons why blood donations save lives.
Donating blood is safe and easy. According to the American Red Cross, 15% of non donors say the main reason they don’t give blood is because they are too busy. It is estimated that only 5% of the population give blood. Blood donation only takes you 45 minutes to 1 hour from registration to refreshments. Many people also do not give blood because they do not know what is involved. When you arrive at the blood donor center, you are asked a few questions about your history, given a mini physical exam and asked for some form of identification. After that you are taken to a donor chair where the volunteer will cleanse your arm with betadine . Everything is done sterile so as not to contaminated the blood or harm you. The actual donation of blood only takes 10 minutes. After this, you are given some juice and cookies to rehydrate you. After about 20 minutes, you are on your merry way. According to Brigid O’Neill-LaGier, CEO of the American Red Cross Penn-Jersey Region, “You will walk away feeling good, knowing that you gave a gift that is precious and invaluable. You only donate 1 pint of your blood. Blood donation gives you a chance to help others with just one hour of your time and one pint of blood. Blood donation is safe and the American Red Cross is continuing to make important advances in testing and processing to make the process even safer. After the blood is collected, it is tested for a number of diseases such as AIDS, syphilis, and hepatitis If the blood is positive for any of the diseases, the donor is notified and asked not to give blood anymore until they are thoroughly checked out by a doctor. Donating blood is safe and easy.
Donating blood saves lives. Every 3 seconds someone needs blood. Whether it is due to diseases such as cancer, or due to car accidents or burns. 4.5 million Americans would die without life saving blood transfusions. One pint of blood can help several people. Only 5% of eligible donors actually give and in Georgia, only 3% of eligible donors give blood. According to the American Red Cross, if all eligible donors gave twice a year, there would never be a shortage of blood. Every time you give blood, you are giving someone another laugh, another hug, and another chance at life. According to a study done, many donors have feelings of satisfaction and generally feel better about themselves just by giving blood that saves another human being life. During emergencies such as car accidents, cancer, and leukemia, many pints of blood are needed. For example, 4-100 pints are needed for car accident victims, 2-6 pints are needed for leukemia patients and 5-100 pints for organ transplants. On any given day in the United States, 34,000 units of red blood cells are needed by patients. The need for blood is constant. A single blood donation can be separated into components which can help more than one person. Blood can be broken down into red blood cells which help surgery patients and accident victims, Platelets help cancer patients’ blood clot and plasma which treats patients suffering from burns. Blood banks are experiencing critical shortages now. Blood cannot be harvested or manufactured and there is no substitute. Healthy donors are the only sources of blood in the world today. By giving blood, you could help the troops in Iraq who need blood due to gunshot wounds and possibly save their life. You can also help people during national disasters, such as what happen on Sept. 11. According to the American Red Cross, more people gave blood during the days after Sept. 11, then any other time during that year. Blood in needed all the time not just during national disasters. Donating blood saves lives.
4 million people need blood each year in the United States. That’s one person every 3 seconds. Donating blood is safe and easy and it saves lives. It only takes 1 hour of your time from registration to refreshments. Every time you give blood, you help three or more people live to see another day. The blood supply comes from healthy caring donors like you. According to Rose C. Anton, MD at Methodist Hospital in Texas, “The most effective way to avoid blood shortages is encourage routine donations…..only 5% of donors give blood.” Donating blood could mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people every day. Knowing that you can give blood to save someone’s life is amazing. I give blood every 56 days because I want to be able to help a child live to see another day and help a parent to be able to see their child live and grow. Donating blood does save lives and it is safe and easy.
So please call the American Red Cross today at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or visit the donor center on Bemiss Road in Valdosta. It is one hour of your time. It is about life. Donate blood today and become someone’s hero.
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