\u2018Who is it?\u2019 asked the youth astride a delivery cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018An ordinary Joe, mate,\u2019 the fellow with a face as seamed as a nineteen fifties leather football replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Pretty popular.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Well, he was a giver.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The youth was getting twitchy, waiting for the crowd to pass, the narrow road crammed with funeral limos and an endless trail of following cars. He couldn\u2019t even ride on the pavement, there were so many out for the cortege. He rocked to-and-fro in his saddle, keen to get back to the pizzeria. This was costing him money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018What did he give?\u2019 he asked indifferently. His attention was on a gap that might be opening up on his side of the kerb. \u2018Time? Money?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Blood. Why don\u2019t I tell you about him?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the youth was away, pedalling rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The consultant peered at her through thick-rimmed glasses. It made her feel insignificant, like a specimen in a jar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018We have a problem Mrs – \u2019 he looked at his notes – \u2018Andrews. Your blood type is Rhesus negative. It\u2019s at risk of attacking your baby whose blood is Rh D positive.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man might intimidate her<\/em> but she\u2019d fight for the infant within her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018So what can you do <\/em>for my child?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Your blood could cause an immune response in baby which might be fatal.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018So what can you do<\/em>?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Nothing yet. We\u2019re waiting for immunoglobulin.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018How are you James?\u2019 his father asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Weak.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018You\u2019ve done well, son. Hasn\u2019t he Mum?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Done very well,\u2019 his mother said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Your lung\u2019s good, the surgery was successful. Right, Mum?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018No more hospitals ever again, James.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018How many blood transfusions did I have, Dad?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Loads. You have the blood of many <\/em>people in you, son.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018In four years\u2019 time I\u2019m<\/em> gonna be a donor, Mum.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018But you\u2019re scared of needles, James? Petrified.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n The youth set his bike against the wall of the hall and went into the sitting room. \u2018Alright babes?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Ssh!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Wassup?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Ssh!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tv was on. Inside a church, a boxy object down by the altar. \u2018What\u2019s on babes?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Ssh! Local news, Dean, highlights of a funeral service.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018You what?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Ssh! The dead man\u2019s famous all over the country<\/em>.\u2019 Dean joined Bianca on the sofa. \u2018Do you know who he was?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018He gave blood.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018He saved lives<\/em>. A local man.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I know.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The vicar\u2019s talking about him now. Ssh!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I didn\u2019t\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n A figure on the screen was saying: \u2018James\u2019 first donation was on his eighteenth birthday, his last one when he was eighty one. He soon learnt that his plasma was precious, containing unusually high levels of antibodies which could be used to prevent haemolytic disease in the newborn. Figure it out. Fortnightly donations, decade after decade. They were used in 2.4 million doses. He saved thousands of lives.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Wow!\u2019 Bianca said, tearful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018His blood was rare.\u2019 the vicar said, \u2018So was James. Let us pray.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I\u2019m gonna give blood,\u2019 Dean said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018What a selfless guy!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I\u2019m gonna do that.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Wow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018You hear me?\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Who is it?\u2019 asked the youth astride a delivery cycle. \u2018An ordinary Joe, mate,\u2019 the fellow with a face as seamed as a nineteen fifties leather football replied. \u2018Pretty popular.\u2019 \u2018Well, he was a giver.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1539],"tags":[1343,606,114,8,7,20,706,804,1168,651,11,71,159,72,1554],"class_list":["post-2344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-heat","tag-asked","tag-blood","tag-but","tag-he","tag-her","tag-his","tag-james","tag-many","tag-might","tag-so","tag-was","tag-well","tag-what","tag-your","tag-youth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-BO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2345,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions\/2345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}