Red Cross Apheresis – platelet donation

I am lucky enough to be healthy and have been a blood donor since I was in college.  Recently, the Red Cross to tell me I’m special, and asked for platelet donations.  These donations take about 90 minutes and they have to be scheduled with the Red Cross directly because they require special equipment and the platelets have a very limited shelf life (five days).  The platelets are used by bone marrow, cancer, and leukemia patients.

Please consider donating blood, or blood components if you are able.

http://www.givelife2.org/donor/apheresis.asp

In an apheresis (ay-fur-ee-sis) donation, from the Greek "to take away," donors give only select blood components — platelets, plasma, red cells, infection-fighting white cells called granulocytes, or a combination of these, depending on the donors' blood type and the needs of the community. Apheresis is most commonly used to collect platelets and plasma.

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