Apheresis donors are prodigious

by Angela Woon, Communications Specialist, Scrabble champion, and logophile

I love words.

Just the sound of them, that ring, the enunciation, the way they roll off one’s tongue. The articulation of consonants, vowels all together. I added a new word to my list of favorites the other day, “collywobbles.” Who knew an upset stomach could sound so fun? Now another word I love that I learned thanks to my work here at Blood Centers of the Pacific is “apheresis.” Just try saying it with me: apheresis.

Pronounced “Ay-fur-ee-sis,” it is a special kind of blood donation that allows a donor to give specific blood components, such as platelets (another great word!). During the apheresis procedure, all but the needed blood components are returned to the donor. The amount of platelets collected in this manner is equivalent to that collected from six donors who donate their whole blood in the traditional manner.  And boy, cancer patients use a lot of platelets when going through chemotherapy!

Why do it? Because it saves lives and it’s safer for our patients who use a lot of components.  Many lifesaving medical treatments require specific blood components such as platelets, plasma or red blood cells. For instance, cancer patients, those receiving organ or marrow transplants, victims of traumatic injuries, and patients undergoing open-heart surgery can require a lot of platelet transfusions to survive.

How? Simple! Blood is taken from your arm, spun into separate components, and the needed blood component is taken, while the rest are returned to you. Don’t worry, it’s safe, and we’ll explain everything ahead of time.

And if you like the sound of that, hey, look what else our apheresis donors can do while donating their platelets:

  * Enjoy our e-chair;
  * Watch DVDs or TV;
  * Surf the internet, chat, email; or
  * Just relax for once, you deserve it!

To become an apheresis donor or for more information on what the process involves, simply call our BCP apheresis coordinators at 1-800-707-8483.

So if you don’t have the collywobbles, and you feel all hunky-dory, meander your way down to a blood center with a whole jing-bang of your chums and donate apheresis! And we hope that it’ll have a ricochet effect… See you soon!

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