I have never donated blood before. I personally have never thought about it, so when I start this assignment I ask myself why I never thought about donating before? Is it the lack of publicity, my lack of time, my altruism or laziness? To be honest, looking back on it now, it was probably a combination of everything. As a relatively young person (22) and without having experienced a serious medical problem with myself or any of my immediate family, thank God, I don't think I realize the importance of good health, yet I take it all for granted . I think when we talk about topics like organ donation, blood donation, and other serious medical topics, they just cross my mind as words. I hear the words but have never mentally thought for a minute about the topic at hand. Now, doing this project, I am mentally thinking about all aspects of donating blood. The actual process of donating blood and the benefits other people will gain from that blood. As part of this project I will be donating blood in the next few days. The more I think about the process, the more nervous I become. I constantly think about needles piercing my skin, but what makes me most nervous about the situation is wondering how I'll feel when my blood is drawn. Will it be cold? Will I have physical pain? I wanted to write this part of my evaluation before donating for a number of reasons. I think after donating blood I will have a partial view of the situation, whether I am positively in favor of donating or if I didn't like the experience, it would lean somewhat towards a negative start for this assignment. I think the statistics of how many lives my blood could potentially save I… middle of the paper… again the procedure as a single entity, but I will think of the procedure as part of the whole experience. An experience that I am sure I will take part in again, not only to help others, but also to brighten my day. Over the past few weeks, through donating blood, the conferences I have attended and the research I have carried out, I have learned a lot about the Irish blood transfusion service, the blood collection process and the overall importance of donated blood. I learned that my blood not only helps people who have been injured in an accident, but also that platelets can help people who have cancer and save newborns at the same time. I also learned that donating blood is not difficult, difficult or scary, but the overall experience is positive. Above all, the fact that my blood can save lives is by far the most critical fact I have learned in recent weeks.