What I Know About Donating Blood

I've seen a lot of movies or stories about vampires, sucking blood, or movies about ghosts that have died in very horrible ways. So, I was scared of blood, and I worry and cry every time I bleeded. But after I read some books and articles about blood, now I know that blood is very useful, and donating it helps a lot of people.

Why is blood donating so important? Because it keeps your blood cycling, taking away the old blood, so the heart can produce new blood. It can also help people who need blood, like Covid-19 patients, and people who have to do surgery. No matter your blood type, whether it’s A, B, O, or AB, you can always donate blood to people who need it.

As mentioned in “Why?” knowledge book series for kids, especially “Heredity and Blood Types” edition, blood donating originated in ancient Greece, in 1492 when the blood of a ten-year-old boy to treat Pope Innocent VIII, who had grown old and weak. The Romans also attempted blood donors with animals, such as young cows, or sheep, but all the people who were tested on died.  

From the articles “A Brief History of Blood Transfusion Through The Years” in Stanford Blood Center website, a story came up that in England, the year 1628, English physician William Harvey, discovered blood circulation. Then the first recorded successful blood transfusion is attempted, by physician Richard Lower, he keeps dogs alive, by transferring blood from other dogs. Then, in 1818 James Blundell performs the first successful blood transfusion of human blood to treat postpartum hemorrhage (excessive bleeding after birth). In 1840 was the first whole blood transfusion to treat hemophilia was successful. Then the A, B, and O blood types were found by Karl Landsteiner, then the fourth blood type the AB was discovered by Landsteiner’s colleagues, Alfred Decastello, and Adriano Sturli.

The appropriate age for donating blood is 17 and above. You can go to any blood donor center you see. You can also search it on Google maps. If you are Indonesians and especially living in Greater Tangerang, you can follow an app for blood donating, like the one my parents use, it’s called SiDoni. When you use it every time you donate blood, it says when and where you donated blood. They usually donate blood every two months, so they don’t get too much blood taken in a short period of time. And I hope that someday I could do it too, to help people, and you can also do it. So don’t be so scared of donating blood, because, it might help your loved ones someday.