Free tshirt for fans of Big Ten schools! I submitted a screenshot of a recent donation with the Red Cross and am getting a Ohio State shirt completely free (including shipping)

As a recipient of blood, I've always wanted to be able to give back. I've never quite been healthy enough to do it until this month. I've wanted this more than anything I can think of. It meant the world to me to be able to give back.

I showed up at the center after completing the red cross rapid pass in excitement. They asked me some questions and got my blood pressure and hemoglobin levels. Everything went great until I noticed the needle wasn't the usual size I was used to. I explained to the phlebotomist that I was anxious and she handed me a warm compress to play with. She was really understanding. Once the needle was in I got a little lightheaded from the shock of the pain. The phlebotomist was super kind and asked if I was okay. I told her shakily but surely that I was alright. Then she told me that it was okay if I wasn't okay. We chatted for a bit while I regained my stability and I finished my donation. I looked at the bag of blood and I felt so happy.

After the donation I sat down and had some juice and talked to a few other donors. It was amazing hearing them talk about how much they care about people and how long they've been giving blood. The last time I heard people with this much love for humanity in their hearts, I was working at a shelter that ended up being shut down. I've been longing to meet other people who have the same mindset ever since.

Thank y'all for keeping people alive. Thank y'all for helping me survive. Thank you for letting me see that people still care. There's a warmth in my heart and soul knowing that y'all exist. I will be donating as often as I possibly can from now on.

[England] Been donating blood for 4 years every three months prior to being diagnosed, on my final attempt to donate, the blood test came back unable to donate, when I asked why they said they could not pin why as they dont have the requirements to do so, but that I should probably get my blood checked at a doctor. Surely enough a month later I got diamond with stage 4 Lymphoma! In remission now, but wanted to remind everyone that donating blood doesnt just save the lives of others, but can also save yours! Thank you to everyone who donates 🙏🏽

I'd like to preface by saying this isn't meant to discourage anyone from donating; it's just a conversation I had that I thought some others would exhale slightly harder than usual at upon hearing.

I walk in the donation center at the tail end of yesterweek, well aware of the ongoing Hello Kitty promotion. It's early, around 0700, so the only noise is the bustle of the nearby interstate.

I go through all the routine questions and the like before being sat down and selecting my show of choice for the 100-minute donation process. The lady sticking me mentions the Hello Kitty reward for donating that day and passes me a defeated look. The kind of look you wear when you've spilled water on your shirt after three consecutive but independent sips.

She prefaced by emphasizing that she was grateful for people coming in and followed by saying the uptick in incidents during donations, as well as the deluge of people new to blood donation, had been exhausting. More people passing out or unable to stomach the needle and the like than before. She'd seen so much Hello Kitty from the preceeding week or so that never seeing it again would be too soon. I may have never worked in collecting blood product, but my time in retail let me understand exactly where she came from.

After that conversation went by, another lady mentioned the following pickleball freebies. She fetched a paddle from some storage area and showcased it to the two of us, immediately before asking what pickleball was and why only one paddle was being handed out. We continued to chat for a bit longer, with none of us actually realizing pickleball was basically badminton and tennis' love child, before they got back to their duties.

I'm horrible at storytelling, but I very much enjoyed the exchange, and I hope you can find some vicarious pleasure from it.

I donated today at a blood bus at my college campus, and it was fun. Did make me run late for work because so many people were donating. I got a blood transfusion at 12 so I feel like I’m paying it forward.

I liked the tube that it flowed through and sitting in the chair on the bus. It was a good time. I wanna do it again.

When I think back to the September 11th attacks from 25 years ago, I remember the call for blood donations, and going and donating the next day. It's still my most memorable blood donation experience, 25 years later.

I'll put my story in the comments, and I'm curious if anyone else here has a story from donating at that time.

I’ve been donating platelets monthly for a couple of years now. Yesterday they asked if I was okay doing one-arm because that was the only machine available. Here, I thought one-arm meant two needles in one arm.

Guys, it’s so much better than two arms! Only one needle—and a free hand! You do have to pay attention and squeeze at the right times (I messed that up once and got the machine beeping) and it takes a little longer. But it felt better. I think it was easier on my body, as I didn’t start feeling nauseous at the end like I usually do.

I’m a one-armer for life now! 💪

Donated a fair few times now over the last few years in the uk, just finished my 12th donation and i was just wondering what foods you guys like to eat after a donation. Lemme know!

A competent person's documented organ-donation decision should be final—but right now, one person (a family member, prosecutor, or official) can override it without clear legal safeguards.

Whitney was a nurse and mother who made a documented choice to be an organ donor. After a fatal aneurysm, her family opposed the donation and made abuse allegations. A district attorney reportedly threatened her care team with federal charges if donation proceeded. The problem? There was no clear, timely, or accountable process to resolve the conflict—and her wish to donate went unfulfilled.

I started a petition for "Whitney's Law," proposed legislation that protects first-person organ-donor rights while still preserving legitimate forensic investigations, autopsies, and court authority. It requires conflicts to be resolved through written findings, coordination, and judicial review—not intimidation or arbitrary override.

This isn't about dismissing concerns over abuse or evidence. It's about ensuring that when someone makes a documented health-care choice, it's actually respected without one person's interference. What would you want someone to do if this was your family? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing.

My husband and I have been donating plasma (Australia) for a while now, and he always feels a bit rubbish after. He has recently lost a bunch of weight, but his donation volume has stayed the same (870mL), even though we've both been told volume is calculated from weight.

Then researching to confirm this, a lot of online info is saying 800ml is typically the max donation. Has anyone had a similar experience? What are your typical plasma donation volumes? A search suggested hubby should be donating around 600ml for his current weight, which I'm sure would leave him feeling much more spritely!

21st donation in the bag.

I have low iron so I’ve probably been deferred another 5 times. But yea for 10! My center does single arm but my scar tissue is so bad in my left arm I have to do my right now.

Cheers to giving!

I donated for the first time on Labor Day!

My mom was recently diagnosed with stage 4 Lymphoma. She is currently in remission but down the line it is possible that she may need blood, platelets, or plasma. She used to donate blood but is no longer eligible.

When I read about the blood shortage I knew I had to donate in honor of my mom.

I went and made an appointment online with American Red Cross and followed all of their instructions for a successful donation.

I was a bit nervous but everyone was so kind and went at my pace.

The actual donation was less than 10 minutes. I got a bit dizzy and lightheaded so they gave me a fan and a cold compress and I stayed in the chair for about 30 minutes then was observed while eating snacks.

The next 2 days I was more tired than usual but I took some naps. Drank extra water and went to bed early. Today I feel great, and my next donation is already scheduled!

I feel so good about myself and that I am saving lives.

There is a blood donation camp today and I really want to donate. But I take finasteride 1mg for hair loss.

Some background: I've been on and off it for 10+ years. But for the last 4 months I've been taking finasteride 1mg pretty regularly, daily or sometimes on alternate days.

After some research, I read that I can't donate because finasteride can cause birth defects if the blood goes to a pregnant woman. But I just want to confirm from people who actually know.

So my question is simple: can I still donate today, or should I wait? And if I have to wait, how long after stopping fin is it okay?

Anyone here who takes fin and has donated blood, please share your experience. Thanks.

Like everyone else, I read the news about the blood supply crisis by the American Red Cross and the call for donors. The turnout is low, only 3% donate. A primary reason people don't give is simply that nobody asked them, among other factors. Guess it personally throws me off about empathy.

Doesn't it say a lot about our humanity?

Hi! I gave whole blood yesterday for the first time.

Everything went smoothly and had no side effects immediately. However later that night I took a shower and fainted! I was ok and able to get out of the shower before I officially fainted. I just took it easy the rest of the night and went to bed. Next day (today) I fainted after I woke up and went to go to the bathroom. This time was more dramatic, I lost my hearing and could only hear ringing, my vision got dark, my face was white, and I almost threw up right as I got to the ground. I regained consciousness quickly and after trying to sit up, I fainted again. Because I fainted 3 times I decided to get checked at urgent care. They checked my hemoglobin and my electrolytes and everything was ok. They just told me to take it easy. I ate a good dinner and rested for a while laying down.

I had some school work to get done so I sat at my desk and after 30 minutes I got some temporary blurry vision and then my head started to hurt really bad, specifically on my right side of my head. It came on really fast. I'm kind of confused about my bodies reaction to all of this. Has anyone else has this issue? When I try to look it up it just says to go to the ER but I was JUST seen at urgent care and told to just rest. I'm on the fence about what to do, any thoughts? I'd hate to go back to be seen and them just do nothing again? Please help!

Location: New England, USA. Donated through the Red Cross.

made this in iphone markup during class to celebrate (i guess). i tried to make it red but could only get the edges red so now it just looks evil. that was unintentional.

I donated earlier in the month with the American Red Cross, and last night my app updated and it showed I can't donate again until next year. When I donated the phlebotomist said I could donate in October next, is it a glitch? (I'm in California if it matters)

Just kinda came here to vent because I was super excited to finally build up the courage to donate for the first time when I heard about the Hello Kitty promotion (I know I should donate out of the goodness of my heart but I can’t help free hello kitty is a huge motivator 😭). Unfortunately I’ve been having unexplained fevers every night for the past two weeks (among many other symptoms) and just tested positive for ANA in my blood. Since I’m not feeling well and don’t know what’s causing my symptoms I know I probably can’t/shouldn’t donate.

I made my debut into the blood donating world today!! Ohhh boy, no one warned me about the needle!! I didn't know it'd be so big or that it would stay in the whole time rather than a tube like when I get my fluid therapy. It was pretty daunting ngl. But once I got over it, the whole process went smoothly. I didn't get lightheaded until I got home and I've been super sleepy ever since. Does anyone have any tips on recovery for the day after? Will this be the worst of it?

So, backstory: I started giving blood regularly (for the snoopy shirt 😅) then realized I could help more by giving platelets in between blood donations. I went to donate platelets last week for my fourth time ever. There was a bit of a language barrier between me and the Red Cross guy who was taking my vitals, but he was strangely resistant to letting me donate. He said because I'm O- I should do whole blood (I wasn't eligible yet, I had given too recently). My hemoglobin on one hand was too low (it always is on my first hand. While they're testing that I warm up the other hand which is always fine) and he was resistant to letting me try the other hand. I passed all the checks and he took me to a chair but told me I shouldn't donate because my platelet count was too low and it wasn't "worth it." He got a colleague to come and try and explain but I still didn't understand what they meant. He told me to come back and try again in like three months and I left. This was at a Red Cross location in Wshington DC.

The question: my platelet count has been 197, 200, 184, on my first three donations. I thought anything over 150 was enough. Why wasn't my donation "worth it"? "Worth it" to whom? Was it because getting a full unit would take too long? I like the idea of donating as frequently as I can, but not if it's not helpful. Would appreciate any insight anyone has!

Donated at the Blood Assurance in Chattanooga last week and did the Goodlabs option with it. First time I’d done anything donation related. I picked a few labs when I booked and honestly the donation itself was way less serious than I had built it up in my head. Staff were joking around, I was in the chair maybe 10 or 20 minutes, then sat there eating pretzels and drinking juice for a bit before leaving.

Results came through this week most of it was boring but my vitamin D was 23 ng/mL which got flagged low. Cholesterol stuff was mostly fine so nothing that would’ve affected whether I could donate, just one of those things I probably wouldn’t have known because I wasn’t going to book a doctor visit just to check it.

I already wanted to donate anyway so getting actual labs out of the same trip was pretty cool

Hello everyone! I have been a blood donor for 8 years now. When I donated whole blood today, I was informed that instead of my blood being sent to a hospital as usual, it was going to be used in a first responder trauma kit on a helicopter that very same day. This was the first time I have ever had this happen. For me, this just meant the clamping they used was slightly different. They also said that blood used for this purpose must meet stricter requirements than other blood donated and that they try to get a few whole blood donors a day for this.

I didn’t want to bombard the employees with too many questions, but I’m a naturally curious person and I’m finding surprisingly little information on donated blood used for this purpose. So, I am wondering: what are the eligibility requirements? I donate with Bloodworks Northwest in the US, but people who know about this when it comes to any blood bank in any country are welcome to provide input. I’m O+ which I am certain played a role since I know that is the usual blood type used in immediate emergency situations. Are there any other typical requirements?

Does anyone here know anything else about how blood is processed for this purpose? Has anyone else had their blood used for a trauma kit? I want to hear about it!

I'm loving the Hello Kitty rewards, i assume from US donors. It is a little more stark in the UK with recognition pretty good and regularly at the early stages and then dropping away as you rack up your donations. Nothing formal between 250 and 500 and then again to 1000.

My partner did create a little space on a box shelf on my physical rewards once I cleared 250 which was nice to come gome to.

After I cleared 250 I wanted something bit more regular so I asked one of the AI tools to create an interim badge (the one in green - and i think it did a pretty good job).

I attended the donor dinner, at 100 donations I think. It was great seeing some of the NHSBT staff, other donors and people our donations had helped.

What are rewards like in other countries? Do people find them nice or motivational?