After reaching the age of 31 having never given blood at all, I have now done it three times. 

I wrote extensively about my experience of doing it for the first time in an article for the Adver in January last year, and I'm writing again in the hope that I might be able to convince others to book an appointment and give it a go. 

I hadn't given blood until that time simply because it was not something that had particularly crossed my mind. 

It wasn't until my wife, who works for the NHS, told me that there were real life-impacting shortages of blood across the whole of the health service and that I should do what I could, that I booked that first appointment. 

Indeed, in July this year, the NHS called an amber alert over a national blood shortage with stocks of blood - particularly the O blood type - reaching unprecedentedly low levels. 

My wife wanted to help herself, but she had her life saved by a blood transfusion when she was younger and so is not able to give blood herself. 

So we agreed at that time that I would keep giving blood until, at the very least, we had replaced the blood she had received that had saved her life - ten pints. 

At least that's how things started when I set out in January last year - but with each donation, you are told where your blood has gone and what it will be used for and I have started to understand and feel the need for blood donations outside of my family's particular circumstances. 

It will take me a while to reach that ten pints target due to a combination of scheduling issues, a sparse amount of appointment opportunities and real life getting in the way, but when I do I can see myself continuing long into the future. 

My next appointment, which will be my fourth, is on Friday, November 22 at St Paul's Church in Covingham, where my first and third appointments were, with my second at the County Ground. 

Each time has been quick and mostly painless (they do need to stick a needle in your arm, that part can't be avoided), and the staff there are police, comforting and grateful. 

I would love to meet someone at my next appointment who is giving blood for the first time - please do consider it if you haven't yet. 

Help support trusted local news

Sign up for a digital subscription now: https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/subscribe/

As a digital subscriber, you will get:            

  • Unlimited access to the Swindon Advertiser website        
  • Advert-light access             
  • Reader rewards             
  • Full access to our app