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Are you a blood, bone marrow, and/or organ donor? Why or why not?

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R

RumblingRosco

Member
EDIT 5: Bumping this in response to the Las Vegas terrorist attack which has caused a sudden increase in the need for blood donations.
EDIT 4: Bumping this for the 2017 winter season.
EDIT 3: Bumping this for the 2015 holiday season.
EDIT 2: Bumping this for the 2014 holiday season.
EDIT: For anyone in the USA that wants to register for organ donation, DonateLife.net is the easiest way to do so.

I've been a consistent blood donor since I was ~19 years old. In the past 5 years, I've donated around 3+ gallons (~24 pints) of blood. Normally, I do a double-red donation since it means I can only donate once every 4 months, which saves me time as to how many trips I have to take to the donation center.

What seems strange to me is how few people I know that donate blood, especially with any consistency. So, I'm wondering, if you don't donate blood, why not? I understand if you're not eligible or have existing health conditions, but for those of us that are healthy enough, it seems strange to me. It only takes ~30 minutes and you get awesome junk food to snack on afterwards. Sometimes you'll nab a free T-shirt or hoodie if they have a promo going. I guess there's also that whole saving lives thing too.

Along these lines, I also wonder why so few people I know personally are registered as bone marrow donors. I signed up and sent in my saliva sample a little over two years ago and still haven't been called upon to donate, so perhaps the demand is just not there for white males.

Finally, organ donation. I'd say I know more people that are signed up as organ donors (upon the time of their death) than either of the above two forms of donation. I understand people that have religious beliefs against organ donation, but beyond that, why don't more people sign up for it? I believe in other (non-U.S.) countries you are automatically signed up as an organ donor and have to opt-out (where as the U.S. requires you to opt-in). I like that approach personally.

Maybe there isn't a whole lot of substance to this thread, but I guess I'd like to start up a discussion about blood/bone marrow/organ donation and learn more about why some people choose not to donate any/all of the above. I'd also like to hear more about people that have chosen to donate and their reasons behind doing so. Please share!
 
O

Omni

Member
I do maybe once a year.

Shit gives me chest pains. Especially if I'm working out in the weeks after donating... so I don't really like to go all that often.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
I'm a blood donor, yes. I made a thread about it recently.

I should register for the others. I told them that I would be an organ donor, but the idiots at the DMV didn't put on my license.
 
R

RumblingRosco

Member
EsotericManiac said:
I don't care for doctors in general. I would donate if someone in my family needed me to, but besides that I'm not interested.
Click to expand...

Honestly, at the blood donation banks that I've been to in the U.S., I don't think there was ever a single doctor, at least not any doctor that was ever drawing my blood. They're usually phlebotomists, which are essentially people that have trained just to be good at drawing blood.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Soka said:
Honestly, at the blood donation banks that I've been to in the U.S., I don't think there was ever a single doctor, at least not any doctor that was ever drawing my blood. They're usually phlebotomists, which are essentially people that have trained just to be good at drawing blood.
Click to expand...

Yep. Doctors don't have time for that.

Phebotomists are cool and usually very good since do they all the time.
 
S

Solo

Member
I'm an organ donor, but I've heard that being one might actually do you more worse than good if you get in a serious accident. ie. rather than doing everything possible to save your life, the focus may shift into harvesting your organs before its too late.

Not saying that's true, probably just an urban myth, but it has given me pause and made me reconsider it.
 
G

GringoJB

Member
I always donated blood when the Red Cross came to my work a couple of times a year... I haven't made it out to one of their donation sites recently, but I probably should.

I think a lot of peoples' beef with marrow donation is how painful it apparently is? I don't know any of that for a fact, that's just what I've always heard.

And yeah, I don't see any (non-religious) reason not to be an organ donor... I think that it's just the right thing to do. That's why it blew my mind when I learned that my mother-in-law has this crazy conspiracy theory cooked up in which, if you're an organ donor, the hospital won't try as hard to save your life if you're in danger, just so that they can harvest your organs or something.
 
O

Opiate

Member
I give blood regularly and am a donor for everything. If I die young, I want them to take apart my body and offer every single useful piece to anyone who needs it. I have absolutely no concern for my burial rights.

Kurdel said:
Organ donor.

I really think it should be the default option, and people who don't wan't should opt out.
Click to expand...

Strongly agreed.
 
L

Like the hat?

Banned
Organ donor. Don't donate blood nearly as often as I would like to. I'm o- so they are always in need.

Gonna set up an appointment.

Honestly I never looked in to marrow donation. I should do that, too.
 
R

RumblingRosco

Member
Solo said:
I'm an organ donor, but I've heard that being one might actually do you more worse than good if you get in a serious accident. ie. rather than doing everything possible to save your life, the focus may shift into harvesting your organs before its too late.

Not saying that's true, probably just an urban myth, but it has given me pause and made me reconsider it.
Click to expand...

GringoJB said:
That's why it blew my mind when I learned that my mother-in-law has this crazy conspiracy theory cooked up in which, if you're an organ donor, the hospital won't try as hard to save your life if you're in danger, just so that they can harvest your organs or something.
Click to expand...

Reading these posts back-to-back made me laugh.

Truthfully... I have no idea if that is true or not, but it probably isn't and at the worst is a case-by-case basis.
 
A

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
Bone marrow. Although I need to figure out how to update my info.

I had a vaso vagal reaction the first time I have blood (lab test) and I'm shook now.

Soka said:
Reading these posts back-to-back made me laugh.

Truthfully... I have no idea if that is true or not, but it probably isn't and at the worst is a case-by-case basis.
Click to expand...
Most doctors are more worried about getting sued to try that. The problem is many people see their loved ones extremely sick and hang on to a slim hope they'll recover.
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
I donate blood pretty regularly because my blood type is A-, third rarest there is so only about 3.5% of the global population share it, so I feel it's rather important to donate due to what I would guess is a pretty short supply.

Organ donation I'm not registered, but honestly I'm not entirely sure I can say why. I'm sure it's just an urban myth that if you're in a serious accident doctors are more willing to perhaps let you die rather than try to save you, but then again what if there is the odd doctor out there who would do that? Maybe it's just that little bit of doubt.
Or maybe the fear that you could be mis-pronounced as dead and your organs harvested before some other sign of being alive pops up.

For bone marrow donation, I know next to nothing about it. I didn't even think you could simply donate bone marrow on a whim, I thought it was only if someone like a relative needed a transplant. Does bone marrow 'grow back' as it were to donate on a regular basis? Or is it pretty much a one time deal?
About the only thing I do know about bone marrow donation is that it's supposed to be incredibly painful.
 
S

SteveWD40

Member
Organ, have the card in my wallet, they can have the lot and may it bring somone else joy.

Blood a few times, could do more.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Lagamorph said:
I donate blood pretty regularly because my blood type is A-, third rarest there is so only about 3.5% of the global population share it, so I feel it's rather important to donate due to what I would guess is a pretty short supply.

Organ donation I'm not registered, but honestly I'm not entirely sure I can say why. I'm sure it's just an urban myth that if you're in a serious accident doctors are more willing to perhaps let you die rather than try to save you, but then again what if there is the odd doctor out there who would do that? Maybe it's just that little bit of doubt.
Or maybe the fear that you could be mis-pronounced as dead and your organs harvested before some other sign of being alive pops up.

For bone marrow donation, I know next to nothing about it. I didn't even think you could simply donate bone marrow on a whim, I thought it was only if someone like a relative needed a transplant. Does bone marrow 'grow back' as it were to donate on a regular basis? Or is it pretty much a one time deal?
About the only thing I do know about bone marrow donation is that it's supposed to be incredibly painful.
Click to expand...

Yep. I'm A- as well.
 
A

archnemesis

Member
I've donated blood ~30 times and I'm an organ donor. It's just a minor inconvenience for me and it means a lot to other people.
 
G

greatestjediever

Member
Donate all of the above. Once even got selected to go forward with a bone marrow donation, which I was pretty excited about. However, the donation got cancelled after a few rounds in. I hope it was the case of the person was able to find a better donor and not running out of time :(
 
n64coder

n64coder

Member
I'm both a blood & organ donor. I donate blood once per year when the bloodmobile comes to my office. I would donate more often if it was convenient.

What is involved with bone marrow donation?
 
T

Talon

Member
Lagamorph said:
For bone marrow donation, I know next to nothing about it. I didn't even think you could simply donate bone marrow on a whim, I thought it was only if someone like a relative needed a transplant. Does bone marrow 'grow back' as it were to donate on a regular basis? Or is it pretty much a one time deal?
About the only thing I do know about bone marrow donation is that it's supposed to be incredibly painful.
Click to expand...
n64coder said:
I'm both a blood & organ donor. I donate blood once per year when the bloodmobile comes to my office. I would donate more often if it was convenient.

What is involved with bone marrow donation?
Click to expand...


akira28 said:
nope.
bone marrow? nope.jpg

edit: I'm an organ donor, sure.
Click to expand...

There's really poor misinformation about bone marrow transplants. There are two types of transplants - one is effectively a peripheral stem cell extraction where they isolate the stem cells from drawing blood and then put the rest of the fluid back into you - similar to a plasma transfusion.

The other (pelvic bone extraction) - the one that you're thinking as painful - is quite rare nowadays and involves extracting from the bone.

The poor information really hurts with bone marrow transplants because the match rates for that are EXTREMELY low - you only have a 20-30% chance of matching within your family. I forget the exact raw rate, but it's something like 1 in 1000 last I checked. If you're Asian in particular, you are in high demand because very few asians signed up for the bone marrow registry for some reason. It's one of those deals where they search on the match list and there is exactly one person that could save a person's life.
 
R

rezuth

Member
Never donated blood, probably ahould but needles freak me out. However I signed up to donate my organs once I turned 18.
 
Q

QuicheFontaine

Member
At my last job the blood van came to the office and I could claim time off to go, so of course I donated! I've not been since leaving that job though, finding the time to donate in my own time is more of a chore.

I'm donating all the organs too, but I've never signed up for marrow. I've been told it's very painful to extract, so I don't want to be on a list and then let someone down by wussing out and not donating.
 
C

Chairhome

Member
I actually went through the process of Bone Marrow donation a few years ago. I had signed up in college during a club meeting when they had a presentation about it (I honestly did it to try to be cool in front of some girls). Years later, they contacted me saying I was a match. I kind of felt a moral obligation to do it, cause if you have the opportunity to make a real difference, why not?

This might be a lengthy description, so I apologize in advance, but I would recommend being put on a bone marrow registry to almost anyone. In the end, my donee actually did not make it, but I was told that I was able to give him a little more time before he passed.

You are allowed to donate marrow twice in your lifetime, I was told. There are two methods for donation: through the bloodstream or actual marrow extraction from your hip. Through some strange circumstances, I went through both methods for the same donee. The bloodstream one is "easier" but it takes a long time. Basically they have to attach a port to either your femoral artery or carotid artery, and your blood gets cycled through a kind of dialysis machine where they collect white blood cells (or something, I forget). This takes a few hours, and you basically just sit and read a book or watch TV while its happening. The recovery on this method isn't too bad.

The other method is them actually sticking a giant needle in your hip and extracting what they need. I was put under for this and didn't actually feel it, but the recovery was a little worse (not debilitating) but I had to take it easy for a while and was given pain medication.

Its not a terrible inconvenience and it felt very rewarding. You are given the option to put your infomation in a database afterwards if the recipient wishes to contact you after a year. Unfortunately, like I said earlier, mine didn't make it, but it was nice to feel like I made a difference if even for a short time.

Talon said:
There's really poor misinformation about bone marrow transplants. There are two types of transplants - one is effectively a peripheral stem cell extraction where they isolate the stem cells from drawing blood and then put the rest of the fluid back into you - similar to a plasma transfusion.

The other (pelvic bone extraction) - the one that you're thinking as painful - is quite rare nowadays and involves extracting from the bone.

The poor information really hurts with bone marrow transplants because the match rates for that are EXTREMELY low - you only have a 20-30% chance of matching within your family. I forget the exact raw rate, but it's something like 1 in 1000 last I checked. If you're Asian in particular, you are in high demand because very few asians signed up for the bone marrow registry for some reason. It's one of those deals where they search on the match list and there is exactly one person that could save a person's life.
Click to expand...

Yup, you said it better than I did. Haha. And I'm asian, which is part of the reason I went on the registry.
 
M

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
I used to be a blood donor but I went to uni and started looking into clinical trials and most of them require you don't give a donation three months prior so I stopped. I've donated about 6 times I think, and I'm only 19 so it's not bad. Got a bunch of friends to go with me the first two times as well so I like to think I helped out a little

I'm registered as an organ donor for everything but my eyes. Not sure why but the thought of having no eyes even when I'm dead weirds me out a little

Not a marrow donator, I looked into it a few years back but I wasn't old enough, should really go and sign up
 
K

kirby_fox

Banned
Quite honestly I don't even know my blood type. If it was rare, I may make a better effort to give blood- but I can't stand the idea of blood being taken. I had to get it done for a doctor's office, and I'm getting freaked out just thinking about it right now.

Bone marrow would be even worse for me.

Organ donor though sure. What do I care if I'm dead? Cut me up and save some people. Put my bones in a school classroom and everything else in a museum in a pose for all I care.
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
Men who have engaged in same-sex sexual conduct are not allowed to donate, hence I don't.

Edit - this has to be the most delayed double post ever.
 
T

Talon

Member
Needles used to bother me, but I've nutted up and started giving blood a few years ago. I just can't look at the needle sticking in me.

Of course, I'm dating a med student. So that probably nudged me.
 
shira

shira

Member
On tv (Law ORder) if you might die/live and the hospital needs organs. You might not "live" because organs = $$$.

I don't know the US laws, but that freaked me out.
 
T

Talon

Member
Jackpot said:
Not eligible for blood. Am organ donor.

Don't bone marrow donations involve a dressed-up corkscrew?
Click to expand...

Talon said:
There's really poor misinformation about bone marrow transplants. There are two types of transplants - one is effectively a peripheral stem cell extraction where they isolate the stem cells from drawing blood and then put the rest of the fluid back into you - similar to a plasma transfusion.

The other (pelvic bone extraction) - the one that you're thinking as painful - is quite rare nowadays and involves extracting from the bone.

The poor information really hurts with bone marrow transplants because the match rates for that are EXTREMELY low - you only have a 20-30% chance of matching within your family. I forget the exact raw rate, but it's something like 1 in 1000 last I checked. If you're Asian in particular, you are in high demand because very few asians signed up for the bone marrow registry for some reason. It's one of those deals where they search on the match list and there is exactly one person that could save a person's life.
Click to expand...
.
 
D

Dark Octave

Banned
I'm very squeamish about having my blood drawn. I can't even watch people shoot up in drug documentaries and it's difficult in movies. I couldn't even look at my wife's IV when she had our kid.

Just thinking about it now has me on edge.

Edit: Also, I've seen in person what it looks like when they mess up.
 
jonnyp

jonnyp

Member
EsotericManiac said:
I don't care for doctors in general. I would donate if someone in my family needed me to, but besides that I'm not interested.
Click to expand...

But you expect a blood transfusion when and if ever you need it right? I don't see not caring about doctors have anything to with this at all.

In Norway we have buses that go around to work places and collects - which is great so people don't have to take time off work or travel long distances to give their blood.
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
Talon said:
There's really poor misinformation about bone marrow transplants. There are two types of transplants - one is effectively a peripheral stem cell extraction where they isolate the stem cells from drawing blood and then put the rest of the fluid back into you - similar to a plasma transfusion.

The other (pelvic bone extraction) - the one that you're thinking as painful - is quite rare nowadays and involves extracting from the bone.

The poor information really hurts with bone marrow transplants because the match rates for that are EXTREMELY low - you only have a 20-30% chance of matching within your family. I forget the exact raw rate, but it's something like 1 in 1000 last I checked. If you're Asian in particular, you are in high demand because very few asians signed up for the bone marrow registry for some reason. It's one of those deals where they search on the match list and there is exactly one person that could save a person's life.
Click to expand...

I really had no idea what was involved with it and I guess it's my own fault for not reading up on it.
I also had no idea it wasn't a 'there and then' donation, but something you were essentially put on-call for to come in and do as and when necessary.

I might have to seriously consider looking into signing up to the Bone Marrow donation then.
 
R

Relix

he's Virgin Tight™
Bone Marrow donor. haven't done it yet. As for Blood, I've always wanted to do it but I am scared :p!

drspeedy said:
I'm not hurt/scared of shots, pin pricks, numbing, stitches... something about drawing things out, I guess.
Click to expand...

That happens to me.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I signed up to be a bone marrow donor, and I've made a few GAF posts about signing up to the Be the Match program. That being said I currently don't donate blood because I'm super scared of needles.

I'm trying to get over that phobia though and then I'l start being a regular blood donor too.

582117_10151854121349637_1709088613_n.jpg
 
E

EsotericManiac

Member
jonnyp said:
But you expect a blood transfusion when and if ever you need it right? I don't see not caring about doctors have anything to with this at all.

In Norway we have buses that go around to work places and collects - which is great so people don't have to take time off work or travel long distances to give their blood.
Click to expand...

Do I expect one? No, not really. Perhaps my view would change if I had to undergo some type of procedure that required a transfusion. I haven't had medical insurance for over 12 years (i do now) so I wouldn't say I expect anything.
 
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