Finally revealing he had given blood, with a photo taken after donation:

On seeing Damien’s ‘arm shot’ photo, uk fan Su Hemming was inspired to send him her own on Twitter:

I had inquired about blood donation 2 weeks before Damien mentioned he would be giving blood! When I saw that he had, I tweeted him I was doing it soon too. After I had donated, I thought I would send him a photo of my arm like he had shown us his, and wasn’t expecting a reply, but was ecstatic when he re-tweeted it!

Several fans then sent their donation pics and stories to Damien, who ‘Re-Tweeted’ (reposted) them on his own twitter page.

American fan Sami Denton told us:

I was a bit scared at first, but after getting an RT [retweet] from Damien it was all worth it! It was my first time, and I think I’ll do it again some time! It feels amazing that I could be saving someone’s life!! I sent him the photo of just after and the cool green bandage they gave me!

Rebecca Dam has been giving blood for years, but was happy when Damien posted her photo too:

I have given blood for a number of years now. It is really is a quick and relatively painless thing to do that can save the lives of many others.
I have only managed to donate 8 pints over around a 6 year period due to illness & medication changes but the NHS Give Blood team have always been very helpful in letting me know when I can and can’t donate and are always extremely grateful when I can.
Coincidently I gave my 8th pint 3 days after Damien first donated and despite not tweeting my picture to him until he asked if there were any other donors out there a couple of weeks ago he still retweeted it! So if Damien has inspired, and you are able, do something amazing and give blood.

Vicki Watt credits Damien for helping her overcome her fears of donating:

I had been thinking about Giving Blood but hadn’t wanted to in case it hurt, then Damien Molony put the picture up on his Twitter page and if he could do it then I definitely could. So I phoned up and booked an appointment about 10 minutes after the picture went up!

Make-mine-a-kiaora, a regular blood donor, had lapsed in the last couple of years, but was prompted by Damien’s twitter appeal to fans.

I started giving blood when I turned 18. It was a way to give something back and to help people when they were most in need. It’s also straightforward. Not much of your time and what won’t you do for tea and biscuits! Since then, I’ve been a semi-regular donor. For various reasons, it had been 2.5 years since my last donation. I’d dropped off the mailing list, therefore it dropped out of my head. Seeing the tweets from Damien, and also people taking the plunge for the first time, reminded me that I’d lapsed. And that it mattered. Gave my 25th pint on Friday! the staff at the donor sessions are always lovely and really appreciate you coming along.

If like the fans above you are inspired by Damien to do something amazing and donate blood, you could also have your photo or story retweeted by Damien himself if you let him know via his Official Twitter Page!

Don’t forget to let us know and share your experience with other fans at The Damien Molony Forum!

Donating blood really does save lives. If you are generally healthy, over 17 and want to do something that takes little of your time but truly makes a difference, don’t hesitate, take action today!
Click below to find out more:

With thanks to all the fans who shared their stories with us and to Damien for publicly raising awareness of the important, life changing issue of blood donation by beginning his Twitter campaign.