Last night saw me relinquishing yet another pint of my finest B- (see above) to the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service. I've been a blood donor since I was old enough to donate, mostly due to my father. He's blood group O-, the rare one, and would get a phone call every 12 weeks to let him know that it was time to go along and donate again. I'd go with him and sit on the end of the bed, so when I became old enough to donate myself there were no terrors or unknowns for me.This leads me on to the whole blood/organ/bone marrow donor debate.
I definitely think that the system of organ donation in this country should switch from being an 'opt in' to an 'opt out' system. To my knowledge, in a department of 11 people, I'm the only registered organ donor, I think I'm the only regular blood donor, and I'm sure I'm the only registered bone marrow donor, yet any time I've spoken to the guys at work they all agree that:
"Once I'm dead they can have what they like"
That's all well and good, but unless you've had that discussion with your family and next of kin, or you register and carry a card, then that's just a lot of hot air.
Almost everyone in the UK applies for a passport or driving license at some point early in their lives, and all it would take is adding 1 little tick box to the form that says 'I do NOT wish my organs to be harvested in the event of my death', and overnight life for the people in this country awaiting organ transplants would change for the better.
As for the blood and bone marrow donation, well you can't force people to donate, and I wouldn't want to, but I'm pretty sure each and every one of us knows someone who has needed a blood transfusion at some point in the past, a transfusion that most probably saved their lives.
Enough said.
Oh yeah, as for all you Jehovah's Witnesses, would you please get out of the gene pool, you're just spoiling the fun for all the rest of us.
