I hate needles. Hate 'em.
BUUUT, I've been thinking about donating blood since I got signed up with Be The Match... if they'd take coffee-based blood, that is.
So, I started to look into it. And, like hundreds of thousands of others who served over there from 1980 to 1996, I cannot give blood, either to the Red Cross or the Armed Services Blood Program. (How's that for irony?)
We were, apparently, running the risk of exposure to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the ubiquitous "Mad Cow" disease.
I've seen pictures of autopsied brains with this stuff... they look like an old sponge.
I'm just mentioning this stuff as a public service. heads up, Cold War vets.
With some of the crap we were exposed to deployed anywhere, I'm surprised they accept any blood from Veterans.
ReplyDeleteMy time in Germany was 1971 to 1974 and I have no idea if that or my time in Vietnam would preclude me if I offered to donate.
On another note, isn't it ironic that Veterans would be denied donating blood while efforts are underway to allow homosexuals to donate blood.