Plasma Please!

It has been a long day today. I left the house just after eight and I arrived home just after nine tonight. I had an early appointment for physio and I went straight on to work as I was a driver. We were in Handforth and it was a lovely day. We have quite a few new staff and I’m one of the trainers. They are great girls and doing really well. Everyone is a bit nervous when it comes to putting your first needle in but they are coping well.

Carol came out to session to recruit plasma donors. Twenty five years ago it was a regular thing for people to be plasma donors, but after CJD reared it’s ugly head donations stopped. A lot of plasma was imported from Europe and the USA. When covid floored the world NHSBT started to take plasma from people who had had covid as they had antibodies that they thought would help those who were seriously ill with covid. Millions was spent on huge refrigeration units, but it wasn’t the miraculous cure they hoped it would be. It was good for those who were ill, but not as effective for those who were seriously ill. They had set up sessions and advertised on tv for people to donate plasma, especially men. Then suddenly they stopped. It seemed like they had gone too big too soon, spending all the money on fridges and processing. But….plasma was needed. It was desperately needed for seriously ill people, those who are fighting cancer and many other illnesses. After Brexit Europe became arsey about selling us plasma, stocks in the USA were low and they didn’t have enough for us so the plasma business is on again.

We need plasma donors. Carol spoke to all our donors today and gave information to all those with nice, big, juicy veins.

I signed up and I’m hopefully donating next week !