Imagine being a mother or father and receiving a call that your child has been in a horrific accident and needs to go to the hospital. After arriving at the hospital the doctor informs you that your child needs a blood transfusion. But you don’t need to worry anymore because every year 6.8 million people donate blood. That may seem like a lot, but every 3 seconds somebody needs blood. Calvin Stigge, ‘19, helps to make sure that people in need get the blood they need to survive. Stigge said, “I like donating because it’s helps people out.”

Donating blood can be scary, but you have to remember that it’s for a good cause. 1 in 10 people are afraid of needles according to HealthLine.com. “It only feels like a like a little pinch, but I’ve never been afraid of needles,” said Stigge. Remember not to make fun of people for being afraid of needles, it is an actual phobia called trypanophobia. Trypanophobia is either inherited or learned from their parents.

There are couple of perks to donating blood besides helping people.“Donating blood gets me out of class, so that’s good,” said Stigge. Also, after one is done donating you are given a snack to help regain strength and prevent lightheadedness. “After I got done, I felt very woozy and lightheaded,” said Stigge, “[but] I was okay after a few minutes.”

One may want to donate, but there are some requirements one has to make to be eligible to donate. One must be 16 years old, weigh over 110 lbs. and have parents consent if one is under 18 years old. One also can’t be on antibiotics and it has to be at least 48 days since one’s last vaccine. If one meets those requirements one will be able to donate.

If you weren’t able to make it the blood drive on Wednesday, November 8th, try to make it out to the next one. The next blood drive is going to be in the spring of 2018. So go out and donate to a good cause.