Real heroes donate blood – not just when disasters strike, but every eight weeks, health permitting. My thanks go out to Bloodsource, which has centers with fairly reasonable hours all over the country and sends me a reminder call when I’m eligible to donate again. My heart is in the right place, both literally and metaphorically, but without that call I’m sure I’d never remember to go out there and get the job done.
Whenever there’s a disaster, whether human-made or natural, a lot of people rush to donate. According to the Red Cross, Boston has plenty of donated blood right now, so if you are in that area, consider waiting a couple of weeks and then donating to replenish their supply. According to my bank here in Sacramento, they immediately shipped blood to Boston when the explosions happened, so they are low and want me to come in this week. I’d suggest you check with your local center to see if they need donations this week or if they’d rather have you come in towards the end of the month. Most importantly, if your help permits, make this a regular part of your schedule. Our hospitals need blood supplies all the time, not just in moments of national crisis.
Science fiction has conclusively shown that donating blood is heroic, but characters sure go about it in some odd ways. Here’s three shout outs to blood transfusions in sci-fi:
Most bizarre technology: Thanks to a tip from Sun, Jack performs a blood transfusion on Boone using a sea urchin spike for a needle in Lost: “Do No Harm”. Sun, you are a total badass for coming up with a way to perform an intravenous procedure using sea life, but don’t try this at home.
Most unbelievable cure for vampirism: A veterinarian performs a complete blood transfusion (two, actually), in his garage, in Near Dark. Long before she was collecting Oscars, Kathryn Bigelow made this movie about vampires who are truly scary. It’s a great movie overall, but its finest moment is most certainly NOT a bleary Adrian Pasdar drawling, “Daddy, y’ever transfuse a person?” Look at these far more interesting characters from the same movie – they can’t believe it either:
Seriously?
Most touching blood donation: Wash donates blood to Mal in Firefly: “Out of Gas”. Mal: “Y’all gonna be here when I wake up?” Yep, we’ll be here long after Fox tries to take away our Jayne hats.
Geek Girl in Love 
