Platelet donor

I am starting to work on my next entry about Malawi, about geography including a map. I hope to post this tomorrow or the next day.

In the meantime, some of you may recall that I wrote about making a blood donation sometime last summer. I think this was in early August. About ten days ago, the New Jersey Blood Services had an apheresis donor appreciation event that I attended. A nice buffet breakfast on a very rainy Friday. Considering that the weather was pretty awful, there it was very well attended. Hearing the people from NJ blood services talk as well as a couple of the recipients got me thinking about why I am an apheresis donor.

As I understand it, an apheresis donor is another word for a platelet donor. Platelets are the component of our blood that, among other things, form clots when we cut ourselves. Patients receiving certain forms of chemotherapy, for example, need lots of platelets as do certain newborn infants.

Many of you have probably donated whole blood at least once, perhaps in an employer or school sponsored blood drive. Whole blood donations take about 20 to 30 minutes. After your intake, you lie on a table and make your donation.

Platelets are one component of whole blood, another being red cells and plasma. Platelet donations take about one hour, not including intake. I donate double platelets, which takes a little longer. On top of donating double platelets, I can make a red cell donation about every 60 days.

Why do I do this? I do it because of people I know who live with cancer, or are in need of some form of transplant, or have received a transplanted organ. A couple of people who fit in one of those categories have touched my lives in special ways. Blood is the gift of life. As long as I continue to meet the various criteria for a blood donor, it is a fairly simple thing that I can do to help out someone who really needs help. A way of giving something back and of giving something to people I love. I can not, for example, give my friend one of my kidneys. But I can make a platelet donation for an anonymous recipient where my platelets mean the difference between life and death.