By Dan Yokajty

Bellbrook High School held its annual blood drive Monday, November 10. The Key club runs this event so that students can get a chance to help the community by donating their own blood. Martin Cheng, the student coordinator, noted, “We had 105 people sign up and we ended up having 82 pints of blood total.”

As a first time donor I was very scared and nervous about having a needle suck out a pint of my own blood. I have never done anything like this. When I showed up, they asked me a few questions to make sure that I was me and that I didn’t have any diseases in my blood. Then I had to go behind closed doors where they tested my blood and took my vitals. Now it was time to give my blood away. They sat me down on a temporary bed. The nurse laid me down and began the process. The nurse cleaned my arm and stuck the needle in. It was a slight stinging feeling, but other than that there was no pain. I sat there for the next 10 minutes looking at the ceiling while my blood was flowing out of my body. When they took the needle out, there was absolutely no pain. In the end, I was glad that I could donate my blood, and I hope to do it again.