Every drop of blood counts. Cancer patients require blood and platelet infusions almost every day as part of their care. Donors who are willing to take
the time to contribute blood or platelet products to help these patients are needed to meet an ever increasing demand.
Donor Centers are typically located in all communities and are usually open six days per week with flexible hours of operation to accommodate anyone’s schedule. To donate, you must generally be at least 17 years of age and weigh at least 100 pounds. By making a commitment to be a donor, you are helping to meet the daily needs of cancer patients. The supply of blood and platelets at some treatment centers are dangerously low. Patients are in need of life saving infusions and you can help!
REMEMBER JACQUIE BY DONATING IN HER MEMORY TO OTHER PATIENTS IN NEED.
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THERE ARE 2 WAYS YOU CAN HELP :
1. Make A Blood Donation
Some cancer treatments reduce the number of red blood cells, which can make a patient weak and anemic. Donating blood is an important way to ensure an adequate supply is available for patients undergoing surgery and other cancer treatments. A blood donation takes approximately 45 minutes. You are eligible to donate whole blood every 56 days.
2. Make A Platelet Donation
“Apheresis” (pronounced Ay-fur-EE-sis) comes from the Greek term meaning to separate. The process of apheresis separates out one specific component of blood, most often the platelets and these platelets provide the clotting factor of the blood.
Platelets are the blood cells in your body that help stop bleeding. Treatments such as chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation leave patients with dangerously low levels of platelets. Without platelets, and the donors who give them, patients are at increased risk of bleeding even before they can benefit from the treatments. To have a chance at life, platelet transfusions are necessary for the patient’s healthy recovery.
Cancer patients with leukemia, those receiving chemotherapy, and undergoing bone marrow transplantation often need one or several platelet transfusions. Platelets have an extremely limited shelf-life, only five days, so ample and consistent platelet donations are needed to keep up with the demand. Platelet donations take approximately two hours and the recommended interval between platelet donations is two weeks.
We were blessed to have family and friends donate to Jacquie when she was in need. Except for only 2 occasions, she was able to receive the necessary transfusions when her counts were low. Not every patient has the wonderful support system that we gave Jacquie, so please; let’s do our part to keep other families and patients from experiencing the fear of waiting for life saving blood products by donating today! Call your local center NOW for information or to schedule your appointment!
A Roswell Park Record!!
A very sincere thank you goes out to everyone who signed up to give platelets or blood to Jacquie during her treatments in Roswell Park. TO DATE, NO OTHER PATIENT IN ROSWELL PARK HISTORY HAS RECEIVED AS MANY BLOOD AND PLATELET DONATIONS AS JACQUIE HIRSCH. During her admissions at Roswell for treatment, Jacquie had an unprecedented 117 blood product donors! Please continue to donate so that other patients undergoing treatment have the blood products they need to keep fighting, just as she did. Thank you for your continuing support and please let the staff know you are making your donation in memory of patient Jacquie Hirsch.