YOU can help

I clerked a thalassemic patient in the ward today. He was admitted because his Hb was 4.7. He is 13 years old and gives excellent history, better than some mothers do. I had a great time chatting with him. It was kinda fun talking to him. Somehow, it seemed less like a chore or assignment when I was talking to him, even though I was in a hurry and only had 30 minutes to take history from him. Oh wait, I actually took an hour in the end, and was late for my class. He taught me plenty of things in the meantime. When I asked him his blood group, he told me it was O, R1,R1. I didn't even know what's the R1, R1 behind. And when I asked how far is it from his house to the hospital, he asked me "dalam Km atau masa?"...Lol.. He loves playing Dota and he wants to be a doctor in future.

I found out that he and in fact, most of the thalassemia kids are not able to have regular blood transfusion because of insufficient blood in the blood bank. And it's supposed to be a high transfusion regime, meaning your post-transfusion Hb should be about 12-12.5g/dl. Due to the insufficient blood, this kid's post-transfusion Hb was 8.7g/dl. There is just not enough blood for adequate blood transfusion. This saddens me. I mean there are so many of us out there with healthy body, good blood (probably good). If only all of us could donate our blood regularly, then these people, who depend on our blood, yes, OUR BLOOD, YOURS and MINE, might have a better chance at a more regular blood transfusion. They need this blood to live!!! And we're only talking about YOUR packed cell here, your plasma and platelets can save 2 OTHER people out there.

Sometimes, we're too ambitious and absorbed into thinking "What's the best we can do?", when in fact, all we have to ask ourselves is "What's the least we can do?" and go right ahead and do it.