CAT Harpreet S had opened our account for the 9th blood donation camp on
27th of Dec itself before he had to leave for Delhi. However, our camp date was today.
The day began which was chilly enough to go through the four layers of
clothing to freeze the bones. The sun God had not made it's presence felt in
the last few days and I was not expecting to day to be any different.
The thermostat in the car showing 7C managed to chill the rest of the bones too.
However, surely the weather could not keep the CATS tucked in their
quilts while they had a far more vital task of donating blood to save
some precious lives or atleast improve the quality of some lives.
Would they?
However, an even bigger pleasant surprise waited for us in the bleeding room
where we met Rajeev who was donating blood for the 87th time!
Did we need any more inspiration? Where are you all CATS? Can't see you anywhere :(
CAT Chat had in the meantime quietly sneaked in with a bag full of food
for the donor CATS, apologising for getting late since he lost his way in the morning fog!
Allow me to share that we pounced upon the crisp matthis promptly with
the new jar of mango pickle which CAT Chat had brought in. We kept the gur/peanut gazak for later.
I had to run an important errand at the office before I went to the office 15mins late,
but I was not that lucky! CAT Kusum called me while I was on the way to the blood bank,
'We are waiting for you.'
Bless both CAT Kusum and her energetic husband CAT Mukesh were indeed
waiting for me at the reception of the blood bank at 9.20am.
As last time, CAT Mukesh managed to donate but his dear wife
got deferred on account of low Hb again :(
The good news was that I cleared my medical so atleast we managed to
add another unit to the list and more importantly, it was needed for an elderly lady in emergency.
While taking my blood I was told that I had to be bled in less than 4mins,
to ensure platelets can be processed out of the whole blood for an elderly lady in emergency.
Dr Sudan's detailed explanation about various components of blood
made me understand why blood at times is taken quickly or at times at
normal pace from a donor. It all depends upon the end use of the blood.
Emergencies do not really wait for the weather to clear... and there was more to come!
As we were settling in, a gentleman walked in with a request of
3 AB+ units for an extremely poor patient who was to undergo major surgery
on both of her feet crushed by a heavy vehicle in Kharar.
Looking at the past donor records, CAT Mukesh was AB+ and checking at
our past camp records, I called CAT Vishal K. He reached the blood bank within
5mins and be the next AB+ donor for this lady in sheer pain in the hospital.
This gentleman got so moved by the gesture of CATS that though
we had nearly fulfilled his requirement within minutes, not only he donated blood himself,
but he called in 3 more employees from his office!
Accidents also do not check weather before arriving... do you really need more proof??
CAT Kanwarjit made a flying visit and left about 4kgs of fresh milk
with me with clear instructions, 'Hot milk for everyone.'
He disappeared before I could even open my mouth!
CAT Hemant walked in to donate 8th unit of blood but there were
more of the hospital staff than the CATS in the blood bank!
CAT Puneet came skipping from the college for this noble cause
spreading warm hugs and smiles all around :)
and do meet this handsome chap... he cried hoarse for his blood to be taken
as we had a tough time explaining to him that you are yet to be 18yrs (the eligible age for blood donation)
He kept saying, 'chaar maheene ki to baat hai.. LE LO!'
There were sandwiches, biscuits, bananas, hot milk, coffee and tea
ready for the donors too. CAT DV Bhatia also came to cheer the donors, who were missing in action!
CAT Navpreet S came with his classmate and finding the lack of donors,
immediately called up his father to reach the camp and donate blood as the score was quite dismal.
The score was only 11 by noon and the weather was refusing to
give us any hope either. Our target was 50 but I had almost become resigned
to the fact that we might be lucky to cross even 20 today.
CAT AP called in to say that 6 donors are expected from his dealer.
Was there hope??!!!!
Rajinder walked in soon with a cheerful smile and his colleague to keep
the numbers rolling. CAT Kanwarjit also appeared again with 2 friends in tow.
Do meet our STAR DONOR.. CAT Hemant donating blood for the 8th time
with CATS and the only one he missed was when he got posted out of town and fell ill as he missed us so much ;-)
PROUD of you Hemant.... ahem... waise... yeh khoon mujhe de de THAKUR :D
Yeah... taking a break from the boring office work...
go on.. take another unit from this regular donor of ours :)
Rajinder seems to agree with me too :)
It was good to see that enough donors had started coming in to make
the staff bring in not 1-2 gifts each... but club them together into the
Refreshment Room for the donors... MEOW :)
Yeah... nothing gives me a more heart warming feeling than to see the Refreshment Room full of BLOOD DONORS :)
Our lovely Sonia from SDI brought in more smiles and cheer around the bleeding room..
She infact insisted on sitting in her LUCKY CHAIR :)
and who says girls cant donate blood regularly??
On the contrary, some of our regular men donors were missing in action this time....
Hustler, Sahil, Balvinder, Vinod... some had left town while others were unavailable..
Two cars soon appeared in the porch out of nowhere, with
a dozen strong brigade of donors, all courtesy a fellow CAT
whom I can only call the Pied Piper of CATS.
The Medical Room did not have enough chairs for the donors to sit on...
infact.. pens were a precious commodity suddenly ;-)
Bring them on :)
We could hardly get them accommodated in the medical assessment rooms
when another couple of cars screeched to a halt in the porch of the blood bank.
Out of the blue emerged the familiar face of Sumit, who had donated blood
for the first time in his life with us over a year ago, had fainted after donating blood.
Despite the fact that he still can not account for those few lost minutes
of his life, he brought in his gang from Elixir to the camp. TUSSI GREAT HO!!
CAT Kanwarjit with yet another friend to donate blood...
and have you taken into account the three donors using the console against the wall to fill their forms??
Trust me.. suddenly the whole blood bank had come alive :)
More donors were waiting in the Reception Area to go through the medical screening... MEOW :)
and in case you are in any doubt that the weather Gods had suddenly become kind on us..
These gloves should be ample proof to you that when goodness strikes, then nothing else matters.
The whole blood bank was brimming with cheers and joy all around
but I was soon approached by a worried son. He needed 3-4 units for his father
suffering from leukemia at PGI. The relief on his face was palpable when he found
that he could have the blood within 2hours needed to process the blood
we had already donated by now.
Blood was being donated. Blood was being claimed. Emergencies and accidents
really do not check the weather before knocking at your door.
They just come; just as CATS were standing by to ensure that enough blood is donated
through this camp to help as many people in distress as we possibly could.
Weather be damned!
Well.. do meet CAT Kanwarjeet who kept rallying around not just donors but logistics too... THANK YOU so much :)
Another first-time CAT Donor in the making??
the logo behind brought a smile to my face... we surely CAN & WILL have more donors today..
and some of our regulars from W3Syntactic Inc. too :)
The Elixir Gang waiting in the Reception Room of the blood bank... I was beaming with sheer JOY.... MEOW :)
yeah... it's me... I am at the blood bank... can you come along mate?
....and don't forget to bring a couple of other friends too for blood donation :)
Our young charming and dedicated blood donor CAT Navpreet S,
who always brings in atleast 1-2 friends with him from the university for blood donation.. BLESS YOU :)
Who would mind a soft comforting hand while he's being bled for a cause..
see what you missed if you were not one of our lucky donors ;-)
but we were not done yet really...
and some donors who followed Sumeet from the W3Syntactic Inc. Team... :)
Rohit was disappointed that though he rounded up a few donors,
he himself got deferred as he was on antibiotics but that should be no reason to round up others to donate!
There was enough happening to keep the blood bank staff rummaging
through everything on the table... certificates.. cards.. registers...
and blood testing.. all being done at the same time!
Vivek was so overwhelmed by the sheer camaraderie that he immediately
called his two cousins to donate blood with us.... JAI HO :)
CHEERS.. we all are THE PROUD BLOOD WINNERS :)
CAT Zubin was another pleasant surprise was he made a flying visit to
Chandigarh and found himself donating blood for the first time in his life.
I am sure CAT Zubin would be including his experience in his script for the next play he directs ;-)
NOW... you are the purrrfect role model for your children
when it comes to encouraging them for blood donation Zubin :D
It was a pleasant surprise to meet the CAT Vivek for the first time,
who had come with his wife and beautiful little daughter Manvi.
Despite my best attempts, Manvi refused to warm upto me she held me
responsible for causing 'Ooooiiieeee' to her dear father ;-)
Rocky and Sumeet... have no words for the camaraderie that you showed on the day...
Log kehte hain... Aap karte hain!
and the only one amungst CATS who has donated 9/9 times
i.e. in each of the camps held by CATS...
CAT Ashish A has already started discussing what special gift would be
made for the CATS who reach the 10 donation mark ;-)
and Ajay faces no compulsion of having to donate blood for the sake of
lectures in college, but this handsome brave heart has been donating blood ever since!
He can't remember, but using rough averages Ajay feels he must have donated blood a good 40 times by now :)
CAT Charanjeet arrived along with CAT AP with their Rotarian friends to cheer the donors.
Another pleasant surprise came when a neat looking couple walked in announcing,
'Glad to be finally here!' CAT Varun donated blood with his beautiful wife CAT Shubdha
and made a pact with CATS in blood.
CAT Navpreet B came alone and was immediately reprimanded for leaving
his new bride Rinky home! The protective husband immediately emerged
out of our seasoned CAT Navpreet, 'lekin uss ka Hb 9 hai.' He was not spared ;-)
He donated while sulking over a game of pool on his phone :D
CAT Onkar brought in yet another beautiful surprise when he walked
in with his neighbours, the elderly Saund couple. The sexogenarions expressed
their desire to fill the eye donation form to pledge their eyes upon death.
If this was not enough, they requested that I find out the process of body donation
also as they did not want their bodies to go waste upon death. Who says it's difficult to
change the mindset in old age? They LEAD by setting an example!
This indeed had been a day of extreme highs and lows.
Though we spent the first half practically twiddling our thumbs, we barely had
the time to grab a glass of water in the second half. The blood bank staff had a
tough time finding a few spare minutes to have their lunch.
There were alteast 15 first time donors today along with the seasoned donors.
Though so many of the regular CATS were missing in action, but the enthusiasm
of the new/old CATS alike simply swept us off our feet. The impossible had been
done with sheer enthusiasm, goodwill and determination of my fellow CATS to ensure,
you all give me another reason to hold the next camp in time!
Out of 55 donors today, 30 came from CATS and their families/friends/professional
circle, 5 from SDI, 12 came from our Pied Piper and his team....
8 from Sumit and his Elixir Team who had fainted while donating blood!
The count would have been higher had we not had 6 deferrals today.
Could we really ask for more? Not only did we surpass our target of 55 units,
we also had 2 more pledges for the eye donation.
May this sense of camaraderie to help others in need continue for the rest of the year.
- Till next time,
CAT Supreet
CAT Manpreet looked ravishing holding hands of our new CAT Harman, a true convert he is for sure :)
CATS, do join me in wishing this 'made for each other' couple a life full of love and grace.
