So you’ve donated blood. What happens next?
From cancer treatment and childbirth, to life-or-death emergencies, donated blood saves lives in a myriad of different contexts.
Source: NHS Blood and Transplant
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Imagine someone told you that you could substantially improve someone’s quality of life - or perhaps even save someone’s life. You might scoff at the idea that your lay medical knowledge could possibly come in useful. But the truth is you can save a life - perhaps as many as three - and it only takes an hour of your time (and a slight prick).
We are much more inclined to perform good deeds, though, when we can directly observe the positive influence we have had on someone’s life. Unfortunately, blood donations are not routinely tracked from the arm of the donor to that of the donee. So, as inspiring as the blood donation process is, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture and just how impactful a contribution donors make. Seeing your blood bagged up, labelled and placed in a fridge might not elicit a warm and fuzzy feeling of satisfaction. This is why it is important to focus on the blood’s final destination and the kind of people it might help.
Firstly though, what happens to the blood after donating?
Immediately after donating blood, samples are usually then separated into their constituent components (red blood cells, platelets or plasma) via the use of a centrifuge and highly specialised machines. This allows a patient to receive the component they need according to their specific condition. It also ensures that the maximum benefit has been gained from a single donation, with each unit of whole blood providing the opportunity to treat up to three different patients with different medical conditions. Once a battery of tests have established the blood type of the donated units and ruled out the presence of any infectious diseases, the samples are stored and distributed to hospitals.
This is when the life-saving ability of donated blood starts to come into effect. But who depends on it? Data on hospital usage released by NHS Blood and transplant showed that in 2014, two-thirds of donated blood was used to treat medical conditions such as anaemia, cancers and blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.
In the case of sickle cell, red blood cells become semi-circular which makes it harder for them to move throughout the body. They can also stick together, blocking small blood vessels, causing the patient excruciating pain, amongst other complications. It is an inherited condition that affects around 15,000 people in the UK, commonly from African-Caribbean backgrounds, and is very difficult to cure. However, the symptoms can be mitigated with regular blood transfusions every four to six weeks. A more effective process known as ‘red cell exchange transfusions’ have become more common in recent years, whereby the patient’s misshapen red cells are replaced with healthy ones from a donor. This has raised the demand for certain donors whose blood is used for sickle cell patients.
The remaining third of donated blood is used in surgery (27 per cent) and to treat those who have lost blood after giving birth (6 per cent). But these data on hospital usage overlook the vitally important role donated blood plays in emergencies. When tending to patients with traumatic injuries, paramedics must act fast to replace blood lost and reduce the risk of the patient going into shock.
It is a scenario I have found myself in in the not-too-distant past.
In the summer between my undergraduate degree and PhD, I embarked on a cycling adventure along the Atlantic Coast of the U.S., from south to north. All was going well until about two weeks in, when on a warm and humid afternoon in South Carolina, I was rear-ended by a motorist as I cycled along, leaving me with a severe head injury, and in urgent need of blood.
That day, I was helped by the altruism of an ordinary civilian who I’ll never know, yet whose blood still courses through my veins to this day. This anonymity highlights how easy it can be for donors to feel disconnected from the material benefit of their donation. But it shouldn’t be forgotten, whether your blood is used in a non-urgent setting by someone with a certain medical need, or blue-lighted to the scene of a serious incident, the power to save a life is in your hands. Potentially even mine.
Book your appointment to donate blood today at the NEW Shepherd’s Bush Donor Centre in Westfield London. Other donor centres can be found throughout London at Bishopsgate, Canary Wharf, Covent Garden, Mile End and Holborn.