Can't help it, my blood is blessed

  

My blood type is O negative. 

It’s one of those things you’re either born with or not. As it turns out, I’m blessed. My blood is like liquid gold. It can be safely injected into any human on earth regardless of skin colour, age or gender. 

For most things in life, it’s impossible to know whether our achievements are a result of our own doing or the genes we inherited from our parents. In truth, it’s likely a combination of many things, including where we're born. 

To become O negative, I didn’t need to do a thing. Purely genetic. A blessing from on high. You may have good looks or wealth or a vast knowledge of astrophysics – I have a blood type that can be accepted by everyone. 

Allow me to quote from the Red Cross Blood Donation website: “Type O is routinely in short supply and in high demand by hospitals – because type O negative blood is the universal blood type needed for emergency transfusions and for immune deficient infants.” 

My blood is needed for immune deficient infants – the most vulnerable creatures on earth. In their parlance, we are “Heroes for Babies.” 

This is why I receive a phone call from Canadian Blood Services every month requesting a donation, whether I donate or not. I am forever on their speed dial. 

Do I sometimes withhold my precious blood? I’m afraid so. After being denied a chance to donate a few years ago because I travelled to Mexico, I harboured some resentment. They phoned relentlessly and I never answered. 

Then covid hit. Another two years gone. 

Only recently have I garnered the courage to share my treasured blood again. I do it freely, although I tend to think an O negative donor should receive a slight upgrade when entering the clinic. Perhaps a food bar just for us? One with fine cheese and champagne? 

It’s the little things that will entice their most valuable players to come back again and again. Like when they sent me a little booklet in the mail explaining how special my blood was. A year later, I have not thrown it away. 

I don’t hesitate to tell other family members about how I won the genetic blood lottery. I’m not ashamed of it. In fact, I’m humbled by it. It’s a humbling experience to have the most desired blood in the world. You cannot imagine what I go through, knowing my blood is so valued. 

Most people don’t have O negative blood, and that’s okay. There’s nothing you can possibly do to change that. Everyone is made special (give yourself a pat on the back for having some kind of blood). 

When all is said and done, I roll up my sleeve like everyone else. I put on my proverbial pants one pant leg at a time. Sure, sometimes I trip over myself when getting dressed, but that’s because I’m human. 

 Just like Taylor Swift... People think she’s some superhuman, yet she too searches for love in all the wrong places (Travis Kelce? C’mon!) 

For all her wrong-headed choices, I can empathize. You can’t imagine the pressure we’re under. The phone calls we receive. The endless prerecorded messages. The letters in the mail. 

As a universal donor, it’s a life I’ve humbly come to accept.