On Friday, Nov. 10, HOSA held a blood drive in the north gym for all students to have the opportunity to give back to their community and give blood. While some students may not have been able to give blood or some students didn’t want to, many students did take the opportunity to give back and donate the blood they had. 

Two seniors Jalynn Gomez and Mackenzee Hays both took the chance and gave blood during the drive. While it was the first time giving blood for each of them, it went very differently for them. 

“I had a great experience,” Gomez said. “I even got to hold my own blood, it felt squishy.”

While Gomez had a good experience giving blood and trying something different, Hays’s was not as appealing as Gomez’s was. 

“It was ok,” Hays said, “I was upset when they had to take blood from both arms though.” 

Even though both Gomez and Hays gave blood they did it for two very different reasons. 

“I donated blood to save lives because there is a blood shortage,” Gomez said. 

Gomez wanted to help her community and help the people around, however Hays was more curious which led to her donating blood. 

“I wanted to donate blood to find out what blood type I had,” Hays said. 

Hays learned she had O positive blood which means any blood type can use her blood and she is a universal donor for anyone in need. 

Some people are lucky and don’t have any side effects while some aren’t as lucky and have side effects of giving blood. The side effects of giving blood could be fainting, dizziness, and feeling nauseous, however neither Gomez or Hays had any of those side effects. 

“I didn’t really have any side effects, it was easy and painless,” Gomez said.

Hays wasn’t as lucky as Gomez and had a little more pain after giving blood. 

“My arms were both really sore and there was a lot of bruising where the blood was drawn,” Hays said. 

In spite of Gomez and Hays having very different experiences giving blood and very different reasons for it, they both said they would do it again. 

Donating blood isn’t for everyone but it can help the people in the community who need a blood transfusion to survive. No matter the reason for giving blood or not giving any, everyone should take the opportunity to give back to their community and help the people in need.