Jillian Ackroyd Conley giving blood at the Eau Claire donation clinic.
Hero is a daunting word, but it doesn’t take superhuman power or strength to change a life. Everyone has the capacity to help improve a person’s quality of life by giving just a little bit of themselves.
Frequent blood donor, Jillian Ackroyd-Conley told me about her experience giving blood. She started when she was in high school at a blood drive where she learned she was O negative. That means that anyone regardless of their blood type can receive blood from someone with O negative Knowing she was a universal donor she felt a strong need to stay dedicated to donating blood.
She says “It is my responsibility”.
In our conversation, she spoke about how donating impacts her day-to-day life very little. Only about a day or two of non-strenuous activity and maybe some fatigue on the donation day. The benefits far outweigh any negatives.
The need for blood is constant. Donating blood is a short process that’s easy to recover from and very rewarding. To put it in perspective, it can take 1-2 donations for brain surgery, up to 5 donors for cancer treatments and 50 donors to help someone in a car crash.
Canada is going through a national blood shortage and new donors are needed year-round. Find out if you are able to donate by taking this eligibility quiz.
Men are able to donate every 56 days and women can donate every 84 days. Even one donation could save or improve someone’s life.
This virtual national blood bank tells us how many days’ worth of blood we have for each type.
As of today, December 8 2022, the blood bank looks like this
- A POSITIVE 4 DAYS
- A NEGATIVE 4 DAYS
- B POSITIVE 9 DAYS
- B NEGATIVE 4 DAYS
- AB POSITIVE 16 DAYS
- AB NEGATIVE 5 DAYS
- O POSITIVE 4 DAYS
- O NEGATIVE 3 DAYS
Check out the virtual blood bank!
Visit the Canadian Blood Services website to book an appointment and be somebody’s hero today.
Comments