It is important to take a few minutes to donate blood, quite simply, because it is estimated that it saves more than a million people every year, and not just road accidents … But unfortunately, despite all the appeals to our generosity… we always miss a little and a lot at Christmas.
It is not emergencies, such as traffic accidents, that are the main beneficiaries. They only represent 12% of needs. In fact the recipients are divided into two groups. The first is that of blood diseases. Anemia for example. And then, what is often ignored, people who suffer from cancer. Whatever its origin, moreover, since it is chemotherapy drugs that damage blood cells and cause extremely tiring anemia. Against which we struggle with transfusions.
The surgical rooms use the rest of the donations for deliveries which also require numerous transfusions.
But if we had to remember a number, we save a million lives per year, thanks to blood donation. Imagine the tragedy if the blood were to fail… Not a family would escape it, since there is, to this day, no product capable of replacing human blood. And if we always talk about road accidents first, it is quite simply because it is an urgent, vital demand that poses a real threat because storage is the problem. The donation is divided into several parts which do not have the same shelf life: Platelets, which are used to fight against bleeding, it is five days; 42 days for the red blood cells, the rest, the plasma, that is to say the liquid part, can remain frozen for a year. But stocks are quickly threatened.
The sample is perfectly supervised and we can say that when the green light is given, there is no risk of donating blood.
It is just advisable not to practice tiring or risky activities such as prolonged driving or sports, in the hours following a blood donation.
Who can donate?
For whole blood, you must be between 18 and 70 years old. After 60 years, the donation is necessarily subject to the approval of the doctor who takes the donation. To donate plasma or platelets, you must be between 18 and 65 years old.
The body replaces the amount of red blood cells taken in a few hours. This is longer for platelets, which explains the minimum delay of 8 weeks between two donations of whole blood.
You can also donate your own blood for yourself, before an operation, but this “autotransfusion” is less practiced in France than in the United States, for example, where blood costs the patient.
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