Donating Plasma

I did a scary thing (for me) the other day...I donated plasma! If you have never heard of this before, you might be a little freaked out right now, but it really is not that scary. Basically, plasma is the clear, liquid portion of your blood. Donating plasma is a lot like donating blood - all they do is stick a needle connected to a tube into the vein in your fore-arm (by your elbow) and remove blood. The blood then goes into a machine that spins it really fast, separating the red blood cells from the plasma, and then emptying the plasma into a little container. After your plasma is collected, they return your red blood cells through the same tube into your vein via saline solution (which makes you feel really cold - weird!). The whole process takes about 45 minutes to an a hour, and barely hurts at all. You even leave feeling just as energetic as when you walked in, because unlike donating blood, you get your red blood cells back. And...the best part is...you get payed! I got $40 dollars for my plasma - which is awesome.

So what is plasma used for...and you may be wondering if I'm super desperate for moolah that I would have this procedure done (don't worry - I'm not!). First of all, plasma is used to help people that have diseases like hemophelia where their blood doesn't clot the way it should. They take prescriptions that actually contain plasma so they can lead healthier lives. It saves lives. The neat thing is, you are getting paid to help someone have a better life.

I found out about donating plasma through a ministry at my school called LifeBlood. Every month this ministry takes willing Bryan students down to Chattanooga to the plasma center so that they can donate, and then collect the proceeds from the donation and donate it to an orphanage in India. The money that a person gets for one plasma donation provides an orphan at the center in India with a month of food, clothing, school, housing, and medical attention. Isn't that awesome? It felt so good to know that when I was donating my plasma, I was helping people with life-threatening diseases AND giving a month of protection to an orphan "untouchable" in India.

This is SO awesome, because with how tight the economy is right now (and for me, how tight my college budget is!), we all know how hard it is to scrape enough money together to do good for others (especially above and beyond normal giving to our churches). This provides a little extra income to do good for others, if that is what you choose to use it for.

So - from one scaredy cat to another - I SO recommend this. The first visit takes a while, because they have to give you a physical and what not, but after that, you are pretty much in and out. I am so excited to continue doing this and I just wanted everyone of you to know about it so that if you have a burden on your heart for a ministry or cause but can't think of an avenue to get funds - this is a cool way to go about it.

Hope you all are having a GREAT week!
Love,
Becky

p.s. - Bryan College beat COVENANT COLLEGE (our HUGE rival) last night 2-0! Whooohoooo!!