Blood Donation- Personal Experience Speech Outline

Introduction:

I. Imagine your baby was born with a heart defect and required daily blood transfusions in order to have a chance at survival.

II. Not a very nice image, but this happens and unfortunately some of you may even have experienced them already.

a. Naturally you'd want to do everything in your power to help.

III. There is one way you can help, that is by donating blood.

a. Transfusions of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma are critical to a patient's return to good health, and vital in helping to save someone's life in an emergency situation.

Body:

I. My Son

a. My son was one of the few born with a rare heart defect and remained in Rady Children's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

b. He was born with Truncus Arteriosus, which required him to undergo open heart surgery at 6 days old and then again at 10 months old.

c. He needed blood transfusions daily after surgery to get his blood count levels up and to help speed up the healing process.

d. Thankfully, my husband has the same blood type as my son and was able to donate directly to him.

e. We also reached out to the military community to help by donating blood to the local blood bank, to replenish the blood used by my son and to increase the blood supply for others to use.

f. Although he is currently doing well, he will need to have more open heart surgeries in the future and throughout his life to maintain the repairs.

II. Facts about Blood Needs

a. It is estimated that in the United States, every two seconds a patient needs blood, that's a lot of blood.

b. More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day.

c. A total of 30 million blood components are transfused each year in the U.S. (2006).

d. The average red blood cell transfusion is approximately 3 pints.

e. The blood type most often requested by hospitals is Type O.

f. The blood used in an emergency is