Holiday of selflessness
Blood. On average, a person contains 5 liters of blood. 5 liters of erythrocytes, lymphocytes, platelets, plasma. It keeps your body alive so that the spirit does not fly out of the flesh mass earlier than necessary. It flows and pours throughout the body, kills micro-enemies, carries substances throughout the body. It is thanks to blood that your cheeks turn red after wine. The bone marrow and several other organs work hard to create a red life-sustaining fluid for many days, so that the donor can then donate part of it to another person.
251. Such a number of people willing to give their energy in the form of blood was on Donor Day at Zaporizhzhia National Technical University. If anyone does not know, let me remind you that this holiday of selflessness took place on March 23 and 24 on the first floor of the main building of ZNTU with the support of the trade union committee of ZNTU students. Participants could be identified by a tight bandage on their elbow.
Two stages. The first – work with paper: the donor fills out a questionnaire, in which he indicates the necessary information about his health and lifestyle. After that, the donor takes a blood test from a finger. This is necessary to determine the donor’s hemoglobin level, as well as other blood factors. The results of this test determine whether a person can become a donor that day. The second – work with the body: you take a horizontal position, your forearm is pulled, the skin is disinfected, after which the blood sampling procedure is performed, using only sterile disposable instruments. Done. Now there is no going back. The device says: «Lie down and enjoy yourself», and you feel nothing, except for your heartbeat and heat in the cramped place. And you also stimulate the device by rhythmically squeezing your hand. The heart pumps, the blood flows, the brain flips through a book with all the templates of situations in which your blood can help people, and the stream of consciousness presents you with colorful pictures of images: triumphant medical workers who, with a smile, transfuse blood to the patient, and his body happily accepts it. In general, everyone is happy.
«Get up». The nurse distracts you from your dreams, and it is already clear that in the future you saved someone. And your young body immediately reacted to the loss of blood. The red factory turned on the intensive mode of operation. Thank you, evolution, for the mechanism of cell renewal. So you lost part of your body, but it is for the better, because in this way your fleshy shell was stimulated to create new cells and renew your immunity. After the procedure, a bandage is applied to the elbow bend, which can be removed after 4 hours.
Getting up. Dizziness curves your way out of the room, but it leaves you as quickly as a hurricane tears off an umbrella. The door opens, and your weight prevents the frightened and curious eyes of others from peering into the depths of the room: what is it there?
The doors are closing. You are free. Now you can regain your strength with hot tea and a soft bun, as well as receive gratitude from the blood transfusion station in the form of more than 55 UAH. And be sure – you gave a chance for life to your neighbor.
Vladislav Umerenko
Press service of the trade union committee of students of ZNTU
