Personal Narrative Essay: The American Red Cross

The American Red Cross came to my school at least twice a year for our biannual blood drive and ever since I was allowed to donate I have. Now Jacob was 16 and was given permission to finally get to do his first donation. After I had completed my donation I stayed around for a while and rested before going back to my class, in truth I was trying to run out the clock so I could skip my AP Calculus class that day. In my waiting, I sat with Jacob and someone who was currently donating and during the conversation Jacob mentions that he was unable to donate. This came as a surprise as everyone that I had heard of being deferred since I started was due to weight issues, which seemed to not be the problem with his case. He reveled that it was not a weight issue but instead it was a problem in his answers for the preliminary questions. I must have shown my confusion on my face because he then states, in the simplest fashion, “Question 24”. This question read thusly “From 1977 to the present, have you had sexual contact with another male, even once? ” He said that after answering the question the woman came back in and plainly stated that they would keep it quiet but that they would be unable to accept his blood because that he participated in a homosexual sexual act.
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Jacob was 16 when he was placed on permanent deferral and he had O-negative type blood, the universal donor. If he live to be 80 and donated every time he was able, every 56 days, then by the time that he died he would have saved over 1,200 lives. However, due to the extremely offensive laws put in place, all of those potential lives will either have to pray that the place they are in will have a very well stocked supply, be transported to a well-stocked nearby site, or die because apparently Jacob’s blood wasn’t good enough to save