Boxergirl
Well-Known Member
I posted this once before and today, on world blood donor day, I'm posting it again in the general forum. As I said in the original post, I'm just trying to put a "face" to the cause. Our dogs can also donate blood too. I'll add a link below. Thanks to all who take the time to read this.
Repost from March - Good morning, forum family. I'm posting to ask that anyone who is able to please consider making an appointment to donate blood or platelets. Our hospitals need these things during normal times. They need them even more now. This is a subject I've considered posting about before, but I hesitated because I wanted to keep my life as private as possible. I'm not posting this to make what's happening in the world about me. I'm posting this because I used more resources than I can count and I'm unable to help replenish the supply. I also want people to realize just how desperately our hospitals need blood and platelets. And I want to put a "face" to the cause.
Last March I was diagnosed with Leukemia. During the time I was receiving chemo, and for months after, my immune system was non-existent. I went every day for blood tests and most every day I went to the outpatient oncology center to receive bags of blood and platelets. Bags. Plural. Sometimes there were no platelets available even though my number was at 4 - that's a level that puts someone at high risk for an internal bleed. I was severely neutropenic. My white cell count was at zero for, well it seemed like forever, but was actually a few months. I'm now really good at wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing, lol.
Anyway. I'm beyond grateful for many things. One thing is that I'm now in remission. I'm still high risk, but if the timing had been different I would be truly up sh*t creek with no immune system during this pandemic. I'm also beyond grateful that even though I sometimes had to wait for platelets, I was able to get them. Over and over and over again. So many times that I can't even guess at a number. I want to give back. Blood cancers make you ineligible to donate. So I'm asking anyone who is able to please consider donating. There is almost always a shortage of platelets because they only have a "shelf life" of two or three days after they're screened for disease. In my case, my body decided to attack platelets that didn't match me and I had a very severe reaction when my match wasn't available. Which was most of the time. I just keep thinking that if I used enough blood and platelets that I don't even know the number, think of all those other people - children too - using them. Needing them to stay alive. And possibly not being able to get them. I can tell you that being sent home with a platelet count of 4, when normal is 150-400, is terrifying. Being told that there are none in the hospital was something I never considered. I just thought that they had a stock. I didn't know. Now I do. And now you do too. Please consider donating and asking your family and friends to donate as well. I owe my life to people I'll never be able to thank. So I'll say thank you here, to anyone that has donated or will donate. Thank you.
https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/28/blood-platelets-shortages-new-approaches/
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/coronavirus--covid-19--and-blood-donation.html
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/coronavirus--covid-19--and-blood-donation.html
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donat...pes-of-blood-donations/platelet-donation.html
https://www.akcchf.org/educational-resources/library/articles/articles/canine-blood-donation.html
Repost from March - Good morning, forum family. I'm posting to ask that anyone who is able to please consider making an appointment to donate blood or platelets. Our hospitals need these things during normal times. They need them even more now. This is a subject I've considered posting about before, but I hesitated because I wanted to keep my life as private as possible. I'm not posting this to make what's happening in the world about me. I'm posting this because I used more resources than I can count and I'm unable to help replenish the supply. I also want people to realize just how desperately our hospitals need blood and platelets. And I want to put a "face" to the cause.
Last March I was diagnosed with Leukemia. During the time I was receiving chemo, and for months after, my immune system was non-existent. I went every day for blood tests and most every day I went to the outpatient oncology center to receive bags of blood and platelets. Bags. Plural. Sometimes there were no platelets available even though my number was at 4 - that's a level that puts someone at high risk for an internal bleed. I was severely neutropenic. My white cell count was at zero for, well it seemed like forever, but was actually a few months. I'm now really good at wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing, lol.
Anyway. I'm beyond grateful for many things. One thing is that I'm now in remission. I'm still high risk, but if the timing had been different I would be truly up sh*t creek with no immune system during this pandemic. I'm also beyond grateful that even though I sometimes had to wait for platelets, I was able to get them. Over and over and over again. So many times that I can't even guess at a number. I want to give back. Blood cancers make you ineligible to donate. So I'm asking anyone who is able to please consider donating. There is almost always a shortage of platelets because they only have a "shelf life" of two or three days after they're screened for disease. In my case, my body decided to attack platelets that didn't match me and I had a very severe reaction when my match wasn't available. Which was most of the time. I just keep thinking that if I used enough blood and platelets that I don't even know the number, think of all those other people - children too - using them. Needing them to stay alive. And possibly not being able to get them. I can tell you that being sent home with a platelet count of 4, when normal is 150-400, is terrifying. Being told that there are none in the hospital was something I never considered. I just thought that they had a stock. I didn't know. Now I do. And now you do too. Please consider donating and asking your family and friends to donate as well. I owe my life to people I'll never be able to thank. So I'll say thank you here, to anyone that has donated or will donate. Thank you.
https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/28/blood-platelets-shortages-new-approaches/
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/coronavirus--covid-19--and-blood-donation.html
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/coronavirus--covid-19--and-blood-donation.html
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donat...pes-of-blood-donations/platelet-donation.html
https://www.akcchf.org/educational-resources/library/articles/articles/canine-blood-donation.html
