An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir September 2018 www.dfmagazine.ie 8 | 8 | A DEBT OF GRATITUDE From the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) W inston Churchill, rehearsing the speech he was to give to the House of Commons after the Battle of Britain in 1940, came to the famous sentence about the RAF - "Never in the history of mankind have so many owed so much to so few". His military assistant interrupted and asked him - "What about Jesus and his disciples?". Churchill changed the wording to "Never in the field of human conflict…." As with our own Defence Forces, at IBTS, we owe a massive debt of gratitude to a small number of people who everyday give so that everybody may benefit. At any given time, only 3% of the eligible population actively engage in giving blood. But in our lifetime, 1 in 4 will require a blood transfusion. Even by Churchill's standards, that's a lot of people relying on a small army of dedicated blood donors! The IBTS needs to collect 3,000 donations weekly to ensure a safe and sustainable blood supply to the countries hospitals 365 days a year. But here is an interesting fact – if all donors stopped giving today, by this time next week, we would be struggling to sup- ply those very hospitals. That is because at any time, IBTS aims to maintain a supply of 7 days of each blood group – thus ensuring it has enough to meet hospitals needs, but also not too much so as not to have blood outdating, and the limited number of donors using up their 1 in 90 day opportunity to give blood. For platelets, it is even more immediate as platelets must be used within 5 days of collection. Platelets are small cells present in the blood of all healthy people. They are essential to enable blood to clot properly. They are used in the treatment of Leukemic and cancer patient, burns victims and new born babies. How can the Defence Forces help? Maybe it's the sense of public service, maybe it's an understanding of the benefits of blood and platelets, or maybe it's just the free snacks and soft drinks, but Defence Forces personnel and the wider emergency services sector, make up a significant part of that 3% giving blood and platelets regularly. The IBTS and patients are very fortunate to benefit from these donors' continuous efforts, but we are asking for more donors to come forward. If you are interested in becoming a platelet donor please call: Dublin: 01 4322833 or Cork: 021 4807429 and check your eligibility at www.giveblood.ie We started with Churchill so naturally we finish with Dr Suess who may have had platelet and blood donors in mind when he said, "To the world you may be one person – but to one person, you may be the world." The Values of Donating Blood BY SGT WAYNE FITZGERALD An Cosantóir recently met up with Pte Anto Kenna, 2 Bde HQ who was rewarded for his 100th donation to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service back in February 2018. "I started off giving pints of my O+ blood in 1986, I was about 22 and was 6-years in the Defence Forces at that time. Up to 2012 I had donated 54 pints of blood, and from then I was donating platelets. I reached 46 donations of platelets in February making a total of 100 in total." Thinking back to 1986, what was your reason for donating blood? "My 7-year old cousin living in the USA developed leukaemia. While visiting him and seeing his condition and blood transfusions, as a fam- ily member I was asked if I would donate a pint of blood, which I did. Since then I have being donating irregularly. In 2002 I lost my own son to cancer and this pushed me on to keep donating." Anto has now amassed 112 donations of blood and platelets, he said if it wasn't for his superiors and colleagues for allowing him attend his appointments. "I've been actively encouraged by my boss Comdt Dave Foley to attend my clinic appointments for platelets and I think more commanding officers and senior NCOs should encourage young healthy soldiers to donate blood/platelets regularly. I'm happy to keep donating." We believe that Comdt Foley has now also started to donate platelets. Pte Anto Kenna pictured with his award for 100 IBTS donations. Photo Armn Jamie Barrett

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