Reporter Kirsty Hamilton at The Star visited Sheffield Blood Donor Centre and donated her blood for the first time. One pint of blood can help save up to three lives.
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00:00 Come with me to donate my blood for the first time.
00:04 So my appointment was just after 10am, had a nice speedy walk to Sheffield Blood Donor Centre
00:10 which is near the cathedral in the city centre.
00:13 Hello, I'm Kirsty at the Sheffield Star and today is the 22nd February and I am giving blood.
00:24 So I thought this year I'm just going to try loads of new things and what better way to try something new
00:30 than by potentially saving a life. So come with me as I donate my blood.
00:35 You might be able to tell that I was a little bit nervous before I pulled open the door
00:40 but there was really no reason to be nervous.
00:43 As soon as I went in the staff were lovely and I was handed a packet of crisps.
00:47 First packet just after 10am and some forms to fill out which included this which is just to check your eligibility
00:56 and then some information about donor consent.
00:59 I was also asked to drink some water because it helps speed up the donation process.
01:05 I was then taken into a little side room. I had to have my finger pricked twice
01:11 so that was just checking my iron levels. They put it into that solution which you can see
01:17 and it floated which meant there wasn't enough iron.
01:20 Then they checked again, it was actually 140 which is good.
01:23 I didn't film the needle going in but this was me nervous and this was me after.
01:29 It was absolutely fine, it really was just a sharp scratch and it was over instantly.
01:33 That was the machine, I couldn't really stop looking at it.
01:36 It kind of grossed me out but it was interesting.
01:39 So yeah, I felt absolutely fine, had a nice chat, got to pose this fun little sign.
01:45 Yeah, it was a nice excuse for a lie down during the work day.
01:50 And here's me again being very brave.
01:55 So here the donation had actually finished. It took 9 minutes and 51 seconds
02:01 and it was only when the needle got taken out that I started to feel a bit woozy.
02:07 Got a bit hot, a bit clammy.
02:09 So yeah, when I mention this I did get tipped back in my chair.
02:14 Not very flattering.
02:15 And a cool pack was put under my head just to sort of cool me down a bit.
02:20 So after spending some time upside down I was brought back up, given some water
02:25 and of course another packet of crisps. I felt much better.
02:30 So after that I was supervised by a lovely member of staff for another 10 minutes
02:36 before I was sent over to the recovery area.
02:38 So I had a nice chat with people here. There was one man on his 175th donation.
02:44 That's very impressive.
02:45 So I had some water, I was given a leaflet about if I might feel a bit faint later on
02:51 and I even had my third packet of crisps of the day.
02:56 So here's me after feeling very accomplished, back at the office
03:01 and telling you to donate your blood.