I am truly honored. I hope every blood donation I gave was able to help save a life. I always wonder about how the recipients are doing, and what circumstances led them to need a life saving blood transfusion. The blood bank keeps all of that private for security reasons, of course, along with the name of the donors who donate. I just hope it all helped.
It’s given at 24 donations. There are eight pints to a gallon. So 3 gallons is 24 pints. I’m at 25 donations now.
The weird part is, I thought I had more donations than that. I asked them to check under my maiden name, too, and they said they did. I did miss two years while pregnant with each of my children, though. I guess it only adds up to 25 so far.
Do you always donate at the same place? When I received my one gallon pin, it was a complete surprise because i know that I had donated more than 1 gallon at that time. But I used to move a lot and would just pop into any random blood drive I saw anytime I was eligible to donate. I received the one gallon pin from one specific bloodbank that I’ve been going to for years now, and i just figure they dont know about the other places in different states. Since I’m anemic, the phlebotomists tell me to double my recovery time before donating again, so I can only donate 3 or 4 times a year, so it’s taking a while for me to hit those milestones. I did get a postcard in the mail from the hospital affiliated w my bloodbank when my donation was used for a transfusion, which was pretty cool.