IT'S not every day you get a phone call telling you you've saved someone's life.
I wasn't expecting it when it happened. I suppose I knew, at least in theory, that it was a possibility after giving blood almost two weeks previously.
But somehow the possibility hadn't seemed real until that phone call.
As it turned out, just days after I had made my donation, an elderly woman was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
She had been bleeding to such an extent her life was in danger. Doctors grew increasingly concerned as she became severely anaemic, a sign she was running low in red blood cells.
It was my blood they used to carry out a transfusion and afterward, I'm pleased to report, her condition improved immediately.
The possibility had all seemed so distant when I had gone to Lauriston Place to give blood.
Sitting back in a long, white reclining seat, with clear tubes to my left running into a whirring machine, I had watched the nurse prepare the needle.
My blood was being "harvested" was how the staff described it. Sadly, presenting your arm to the nurse's needle like this is something worryingly small numbers of people are now doing in Scotland.
In return for my pint, the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service had, on this occasion, promised to track where my blood went.
They would, they said – within the strict limits of confidentiality rules – give me some details of the patient who received it.
I knew this was going to happen. I also knew that blood transfusions are only carried out in the most serious of circumstances. I still didn't expect the feeling which hit me when I got that call.
It is easy to argue that if they had not used my blood in that instance, they would have used someone else's, and that is true.
But I still felt a rare and powerful feeling that came from being able to help someone in their hour of need.
Blood stocks have fallen dramatically in recent years. That's why the blood transfusion service offered to track my blood, in order to highlight the real results of giving blood.
In Scotland, 10,000 fewer donors came forward last year than in 2006, and we have hit the lowest level since records began.
Each year the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary accident and emergency department alone carries out about 25,000 transfusions involving cardiac patients and those requiring an organ transplant.
Andrew Lyon, consultant neonatologist at NHS Lothian, explained the life-and-death situations he and his staff regularly have to deal with.
"Blood is absolutely essential in the care of a large number of our patients such as pregnant mothers in labour and newborn babies, in particular premature babies.
"We rely very much on the generosity of people to donate their blood. It is important that they recognise that their blood can be a life saver in many situations.
"We are working closely with the Blood Transfusion Service and are looking at innovative ways to continue encouraging the public and our staff to give blood."
The service has been trying to reach out to the working population, sending its van out to take donations at offices, in the hope of getting more people into the habit.
There are fears patients will see vital procedures postponed if blood stocks continue to fall.
One donation can potentially save three lives as the blood is separated and platelets, red blood cells, and plasma all potentially put to good effect.
Sitting in the blood transfusion centre in Lauriston Place, as a nurse prepared to inject a needle into my arm, it was not difficult to see why.
Shortly before 12.30pm on a Monday should be peak time with the lunch hour rush.
However, only three out of about a dozen beds were full – a worry considering the Edinburgh centre needs 100 donations every day.
More and more people believe they are too busy to give blood, even though it can easily be done in less than an hour.
The service relies on a committed band of donors who will sometimes be called up when stocks get low and asked to make emergency donations.
However, due to age and people moving away, about 300 Edinburgh donors are lost each year, 50,000 across the UK.
The process is extremely quick and easy. It starts with a brief interview about health matters and exotic travel to make sure there are no reasons why I would not be able to give blood.
Then one of my fingers is pricked so they can measure the level of iron in the blood. The test results are almost instant, and in my case positive, so we're good to go.
The insertion of the needle is almost pain-free. The nurse who has been assigned to me never leaves my side and speaks reassuringly throughout in a perfect bedside manner.
Then there is free tea, orange juice and chocolate biscuits.
Despite the central location of the blood transfusion centre – next to the Meadows and a short walk from the Old Town and financial district – city residents are even less likely to donate than people living in rural areas.
I am in no position to criticise: before now I had given blood just once and that was many years ago.
I had not stayed away because I was worried about the needle – like other people I just always thought I had better things to do in my lunch hour.
Vincent Mooney, Edinburgh donor services manager, said: "It is essentially people's leisure time that we are competing against, but we only ask an hour of your day, three times a year.
"In that time you can save three lives. The only thing you will feel is good about yourself."
Routine surgery risks postponement as falling supply levels take their tollOPERATIONS such as hip replacements will have to be postponed if blood donor levels continue to fall, a consultant has warned.
The Scottish Blood Transfusion Service is desperately trying to attract new donors to bolster its stocks.
But Mark Turner, clinical director for the blood transfusion centre in Edinburgh, warns patients will suffer if the current downward trend continues.
"We are trying to encourage new donors to come forward," he said. "We have got a good solid base of regular donors, but people get older and develop illnesses.
"We try to make sure that blood is only used when strictly necessary, and we are finding new ways of saving blood, or in some instances using clinical drugs instead."
But he admitted that if neither tactic compensated for the loss of donors, non-emergency operations would have to be cancelled.
"That's absolutely right," he said. "There would be periods of time where routine surgery would have to be rescheduled. Obviously some kinds of surgery would have to be dealt with. I would want cancer surgery to always go ahead."
He stressed the importance of blood donor supplies in modern treatment.
Dr Turner said: "It's critical that more donors come forward. A lot of modern medicine depends on how readily available blood supplies are.
"Sometimes it is life-saving, sometimes it is life-improving, and sometimes there is an element of both."
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www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk•
www.scotblood.co.uk