I am truly honored. I hope every blood donation I gave was able to help save a life. I always wonder about how the recipients are doing, and what circumstances led them to need a life saving blood transfusion. The blood bank keeps all of that private for security reasons, of course, along with the name of the donors who donate. I just hope it all helped.
Do you always donate at the same place? When I received my one gallon pin, it was a complete surprise because i know that I had donated more than 1 gallon at that time. But I used to move a lot and would just pop into any random blood drive I saw anytime I was eligible to donate. I received the one gallon pin from one specific bloodbank that I’ve been going to for years now, and i just figure they dont know about the other places in different states. Since I’m anemic, the phlebotomists tell me to double my recovery time before donating again, so I can only donate 3 or 4 times a year, so it’s taking a while for me to hit those milestones. I did get a postcard in the mail from the hospital affiliated w my bloodbank when my donation was used for a transfusion, which was pretty cool.
That’s cool. No, I have donated in many places. I even donated in Washington, D.C., once. The sites that are not connected to my local blood banks will not pair their rewards and records with those places in California. Even though they are all Red Cross affiliated, they are not truly connected for the donation counts and rewards system. I asked one of the people at my local blood bank and they told me this once.