Donating Blood Persuasive

THE IMPORTANCE OF DONATING BLOOD
INTRODUCTION
I. Blood Runs Thicker Than Water
The saying "blood runs thicker than water" is a bit redundant when you take it out of its
cultural context. If you've ever biffed it riding a bike, cut yourself preparing dinner, or
lost a tooth, you can attest that blood is very obviously heavier and less agile than water.
Both in a cultural and a physical context, you know you need both blood and water to
survive -- in either context, losing one or the other can result in death. Today, I'm going to
talk about the importance of donating blood, and how it can benefit you.
BODY
I. Statistics
Every two seconds, someone needs blood, and in hospitals across the country they
use 43,000 pints of blood every day. Only 10% do regularly, and with 1 in every 7
hospital patients requiring a blood transfusion, the need for blood in modern hospitals
cannot be questioned. Women who keep bleeding after delivering babies need donated
blood. Children who are in car accidents need donated blood. Men with hemoglobin
deficiencies or lacking platelets need donated blood.
II. Blood Types
Reach back to your middle school biology class and remember the things you learned
about blood. I realize that I'm simplifying the matter, but remember how there are
essentially four main blood types: A, B, AB,
and O. Each type can also be positive or
negative. Type A people and Type B people can
only accept A or B blood. If a hospital doesn't
have that type of blood (or Type O negative,
which is accepted by pretty much any blood
type), they can't give the patient a transfusion.
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Getting the wrong blood type can kill a person faster than just losing blood.
III. Blood Lifespan
You also have to consider that donated blood can go bad. While frozen plasma
remains intact for up to a year, red blood cells can only be stored for about 42 days before
they start to "go bad:" decompose and lose its vitality. Donated platelets have an even
shorter lifespan of 5 days. There is no substitute for human blood: we cannot synthesize
alternatives, and while pig insulin works in humans, we cannot use pig blood to help
organ transfers. Blood shortages are common, and the rarest blood type is the one that
isn't in the banks when someone is dying and needs it.
IV. Personal Benefits
Donating blood can help improve your health as well. In addition to getting a free
blood analysis when donating, you reduce your risk of cancer and improve your heart's
health. Iron is the key -- donating blood helps reduce your iron levels. While low iron can
be dangerous (think anemia), having too much iron increases your risk of cancer and of
getting a heart attack and/or stroke. The free blood analysis can be incredibly beneficial:
all donors are tested for syphilis, HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases before
their blood can be used in hospitals. If it can't be used in hospitals, it often goes to
researchers. If your blood is infected, you'll know right away, and you'll help researchers
discover cures for blood-related diseases.
CONCLUSION
I could throw statistics at you that demonstrate the need for donated blood all day.
Unfortunately, we as humans don't understand numbers very well -- it's hard for us to
imagine 4 pints of blood, let alone 43,000. If you donate your blood twice a year, you can
save up to 6 people's lives. Plus, you'll be able to claim 6 new siblings by blood, and
that's just with one year of donating. If a full donation is too much, you can donate
plasma, red blood cells, or platelets individually. All in all, I hope you have learned
something new about our bodies, our medical system, and blood donation in our country.
Thank you for your attention.
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WORKS CITED
Borreli, Lizette. "Why Donating Blood is Good For Your Health." Medical Daily. 30
May, 2013. Web. 15 Nov, 2014.
W Riley, et al. The United States' potential blood donor pool: estimating the
prevalence of donor-exclusion factors on the pool of potential donors. Transfusion. 2007.
Web. 15 Nov, 2014
The 2005 Nationwide Blood Collection and Utilization Survey Report. Department of
Health & Human Services. 2005. Web. 15 Nov, 2014
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THE IMPORTANCE OF DONATING BLOOD

I. Blood Runs Thicker Than Water

II. Blood Types

III. Blood Lifespan

IV. Personal Benefits

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ

Don't use this speech as is! This document is available for

If you need help with writing a unique speech, please go to

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