Is My Blood Safe To Donate?

My friend's daughter had an operation last Monday. The weekend prior to that, I received a SMS from my project manager asking for blood donors for my friend's daughter's operation. My manager was also asking help in forwarding the same request to the rest of my projectmates. The blood type needed was Type O.

I am Type O (or at least, that's what I remember in the few times I had to go through blood transfusions in my youth). But then that doesn't help much. I would have liked to have given little Ysa some help in the form of my own blood, but I knew I can't. I knew as soon as I declared that I have SLE, and had asthma when I was a kid, my offer would be refused by the hospital (even if my friend agreed that I was no risk to her daughter). I'm not scared of being extracted with blood. If someone were to collect all the blood taken out of me each time I went for blood chemistry, he would've filled up one blood bag, or two. But t would be one bag full of the blood of someone who was sickly since he was a kid and still has a condition now fueled by corticosteroids. And though I'm not that aware if being sickly can be transmitted via blood transfusion, I knew there's something wrong in pursuing the idea further. So, I just contented myself with texting my friend that my blood was no good as he knew I had SLE, so I was thinking my prayers would be enough help instead. He just texted me in the morning after to say thanks.

After that, I had this down sort of feeling. A combination of frustration, annoyance, sadness, irritation, and guilt. Here I was, Type O, but then my blood would be surely be refused because of my condition. And this is my close friend we're talking about, whom I would really like to have helped out. It's a painful feeling that aside from forwarding messages to friends looking for possible donors and asking them to pray for the little kid, there was nothing more I could be of service of, even if my blood type matched what was needed. It's a sinking feeling actually, because this realization applies also to anyone who would need my blood donation. It could, God-forbid, be one of my relatives. And by that time, I'll still be willing to give it, but no medical institution will take it without reservation. Then again, this is just another thing I would need to get used to.