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| Huyen Trang had 40 blood donations |
Hiding Blood donation from her mother
Entering her first year of university, Huyen Trang started donating blood. Unlike many people, Huyen Trang came to this social work without fear but with curiosity. Trang honestly shared: "It was not the idea of donating blood to help save lives in a fancy way of saying. I go to donate blood to experience whether it is tired and painful?".
Huyen Trang felt good after the first blood donation and called her family in Thanh Hoa province to tell her mother. Surprisingly, her mother objected as she thought it would harm her health.
"Mother told me what is the point a girl donating blood. Since then, I have still donated blood but I hide it from my mother. Every time my mother asked me, I kept saying that I could only donate blood that one time," the young female student of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy recalled.
In the first three years of university, Huyen Trang only maintained blood donations periodically following the campaigns. However, from the fourth year, there was year she donated blood 12 times.
“In that period around 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic made blood resources extremely scarce, while the patient demand for blood was enormous. Every month, I went to donate platelets 2 times and repeat continuously for 2-3 months. Donating blood too much also worried me, especially when the test results showed my platelet count had reduced. However, compared with the number of platelets within the acceptable threshold, I felt reassured and continued to donate," Huyen Trang said.
Besides coming to blood donation with curiosity, Huyen Trang also "experienced" new feelings when donating blood on a special occasion. In 2020, when following the volunteer group of the Ho Chi Minh University of Medicine and Pharmacy to participate in the fight against COVID-19 in Binh Tan district and worked in the isolation area, she saw a lot of patients in need of blood, but their blood resources were exhausted, Trang volunteered with other doctors to donate blood.
Trang shared it was challenging to donate at that time. She had to ride a motorbike to the place of donation that was 5-6km away, passing many epidemic control points. The distance is short, but I was afraid I could not donate. However, at that time, Trang left her precious blood at a blood bank in Ho Chi Minh City.
Donating blood many times, it was easier for Huyen Trang to mobilize voluntary blood donation, especially platelet donation. The female student born in 1999 said: “I have a close friend who also donated whole blood and kept asking me if I was tired, painful, or if I stayed in the hospital for a long time when donating platelet. When she saw me giving proof of the number of blood donations, she was surprised. After that, I don't know if it was because of my influence, she participated in platelet donation."
After a period of hiding from her mother her blood donations, Huyen Trang's mother surprisingly told her daughter that she had just donated blood. Since then, it has been less difficult for the female student of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy in her journey to hide her social work from her mother.
“As long as still being healthy, I’ll keep donating”
Huyen Trang's history of 40 blood donations in 6 years of school makes many people startled, but it is completely healthy. According to Dr. Dong Si Sang, in charge of the Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center - at Hue Central Hospital, the time to donate platelets can be several times a year, and the break period between platelet donation sessions may be shorter than that of whole blood donation. The number of donations can be high and cases like Huyen Trang are much appreciated.
Recently, for her blood donation and contribution to building a strong Vietnam Red Cross Society, Truong Thi Huyen Trang was awarded the medal "For Acts of Humanity".
Huyen Trang shared, “as long as I am healthy, I will still donate blood. However, my biggest wish is to spread the blood donation spirit to friends, relatives, neighbors or people that I know, especially platelet donation”.
During blood donation festivals, satellite blood donations, Huyen Trang and the Blood Bank Club of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy mobilized hundreds of young people and students to actively participate in blood donation, bringing in thousands of units of blood cells per year. However, although many people have donated whole blood, concerns remain about platelet donation. From her knowledge and experience, she will share with everyone to join in supporting emergency cases that need blood.