Hi everyone,
Yesterday morning, I was really tired. In the morning, I managed to go into school for a couple of hours but I did have to take it slowly as I felt a bit stiff. I left school at 11am as I was going to meet more donors at Edgware Donor Centre. I met some really lovely people there. Firstly, I met a young man called Joel Thornton. He was really kind and didn't seem at all bothered about donating. He was also O- blood group; many times of which I have had before. I then met two other men who were sitting on the chairs donating platelets. They were called Gavin Buchan and Wayne Marshall. They were both CMV negative ( have never had cytomegalovirus before and therefore do not have antibodies against it ) and every platelet transfusion I have in also CMV negative. Its amazing how neither of them had known anyone who had needed blood or platelets. They did it out of sheer good will. They were really lovely and had both been donating since they were very young. I also had a lovely conversaton about the need for people to donate and the lack of donors around the world. Finally, I met Jeremy King, who was a kind gentlemen who really understood donating.

In the evening, we had our charity dinner and raffle!!! We got to our venue, The Honeypot Spice Rack, at 6pm. On all the tables we put leaflets about Great Ormond Street Hospital, bone marrow, blood and platelets donation, pens from NHSBT, Great Ormond street and NHSBT stickers, post it notes and little blood drop bobble head stickers. The tables looked lovely and people started to come...
It kicked off at 7:30pm, with friends, family and regular customers to the Honeypot Spice Rack settling down at the tables and taking their seats. Everyone merged almost instantly and whilst walking around, I felt as though everyone was at ease. Sarah and Zoe had come to help me and we all handed out a sheet of raffle tickets to every person. After a short while, I made a nerve racking speech explaining that this event was really important to us. We want to give out the message of Blood Product, Organ and Bone Marrow Donation especially in the Asian community and how everyday lives are saved just by two hours or so every month.

Dinner was a lovely buffet or starters first and then main courses. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, though my friend Sarah's mouth was burning slightly as she never eats spicy food, and all went back for seconds.
I got a lovely surprise as my old form tutor, Mr O'Carroll, amd his lovely partner Ciara came. It was great to see Mr O'C again and his fiancee was a really lovely person.

Finally, it was the raffle, and though Mr O'Carroll claimed he had a knack for winning, he didn't win anything at all!! The prizes included digital photo frames, exquisite wine glasses, a set of shower creams, a hairdryer and more. It was really fun though!!!

I hope you enjoy looking at the new pictures at the blog and have a lovely weekend.
Devaanshi Mehta

A twinkling star shines through the night like a smile brightens up the day