An appeal: donate blood

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Me and my dad in Philadelphia, where I was born
I recently read a couple of posts from a couple of my favourite bloggers, Cat at Take Courage and the lovely Ella at Ella Masters, which highlighted some of my frustrations with the blogging world. I miss some of the honesty and transparency that blogging seemed to offer a while ago, and I've come to realise the blogs I read now are the ones that still offer that.

I don't often post very personal things on here, but in the spirit of honesty and something that's truly important to me: a little reminder to everyone to be thankful for their family and to look after those who they love. Bee's most recent post in tribute to her uncle really struck a chord with me. My family have been relatively lucky with good health recently, but last week I very nearly lost my dad to a heart attack. Luckily, he'd noticed he wasn't feeling right and had taken himself to hospital, where he had the heart attack whilst hooked up to the machines in the ER, and the doctors had the crash cart and surgeons right on hand. If he'd ignored his gut instinct he would have either been driving or home alone and the whole thing would have had a very different ending.

This is where I'd remind everyone that no matter how silly you feel, if you feel unwell or out of sorts, get it checked out. This is what doctors are for! 

If you're not sure where to go, 0845 4647 is the 24 hour NHS Direct service, or you can use their online symptom checker (NHS Direct is unfortunately being phased out for the 111 service soon, though!). If it's an emergency, ring an ambulance or go to A&E. It is so much better to be on the safe side (though probably don't go to A&E for a minor headache!).

If you can donate blood, please do. Find your nearest donation centre here.
Sign up to be a bone marrow donor.
Register as an organ donor.

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