5th of December 2004
A Rh+
Got my blood donor's card today, which means that my blood passed all the tests. I do not have Aids, HIV, Hapatitis B, CJD, BSE, OBE, CCJs or whatever else they test for. It also means I finally find out what blood-type I am. I've been wondering for a long time. And here it is: A+, the second most common blood-type there is. My blood is as common as muck! There was a tiny possibility that I could have had a very rare type as my Mum has one of the rarest types (one of the negative types, I can't remember which) but, of course, it was always unlikely that I would inherit it. Still it's good to know that I can give blood to people who are A+ or AB+ (about 36% of the population).
It is an interesting fact that many people who are of type O or A do not donate because their blood is of a common type, so they assume their blood isn't needed. But to quote a website I was reading about blood-types:
In Blood banks in the United States, the most common types of Blood cause the greatest concern. Many people with O+ and A+ do not donate. The rationale seems to be that potential donors believe that because they are of a common Blood type that their Blood is not needed. What they fail to think about is, YES, they are of common type, but most Blood users are also of common type; consequently O+ and A+ are used more than twice as much as any other donor types!