This week’s poem is a thank-you letter to all those people who donate blood and bone marrow. Every time I see a blood bag hanging from the stand next to my son’s hospital bed, I send a grateful thought to all those who donate blood. Within the past week the hospital has identified first one and then a second bone marrow donor as a match. I hope I get the chance to thank those kind people in person, but if not, this poem is for them most of all.

Donor

Everywhere, within bones in healthy bodies

Blood is being made.

Someone makes the decision to donate, takes the time and trouble,

Walks, drives, cycles to blood bus, blood drive, blood bank –

Looks the other way when the needle pricks, accepts a little dizziness

Rising from the chair, takes a moment to recover.

Somewhere out there someone makes the choice to tick a box,

Becomes a bone marrow donor, hardly knowing what it means

Takes the time and trouble, ignores a little fear, a tingle of anxiety in ilium bones,

Hopes, perhaps, to make a difference to someone, somewhere.

Right here, right now, I thank you,

You saved my son’s life.

Nyborg 2017