By Jennifer Costa, Regional Communications Director

Donnie Graham walked into the Red Cross Donor Center in Portland, Maine. It had been years since he had been inside this building. He was a little kid back then. Now, at 18, Donnie scanned the room looking at each donor giving blood. Then he moved his gaze over to a different area where donors were sitting in beds, watching television and some were snuggled in blankets. All had both arms outstretched. Without hesitation, he walked over to an older man and gave him a big hug.

“Hey Donnie,” his grandfather said removing his headphones and smiling.

Lee Steele is a regular platelet donor. He’s been making these lifesaving donations for the past 13 years – right around the time his grandson, Donnie, got sick. At five, Donnie started getting hurt more easily than other kids. At first, his family just thought he was a rough and tumble boy, but when he started bruising with the slightest trauma, they knew something was wrong.

“My body could not keep up with injuries. So, if I’d snap my fingers, I’d bleed internally,” Donnie said.

“His parents took him to the doctor and found out those bruises he kept getting were from aplastic anemia – and shortly after that he became very ill. I didn’t know what was going to happen and his doctor put him on a regime of platelets,” Donnie’s grandfather said.

Aplastic anemia is a rare blood disorder that occurs when someone’s bone marrow cannot produce enough blood cells, including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. The prognosis for aplastic anemia depends on the underlying cause and the severity of the condition. With treatment, many people can live full and active lives. However, without treatment, aplastic anemia can be life-threatening. 

“The doctor said they couldn’t even measure Donnie’s platelet count when he came in because he would be so low. Platelets saved his life. When that happened, my wife said, ‘I’m going to pay it back and so she started coming here. I would come with her, and I’d watch her, and I finally asked myself, ‘Why am I sitting here doing nothing?” Lee remembered. “I was reluctant to donate because I had this fear of needles – and they are going to put a needle in each arm. I watched Donnie when he was five years old, and they’re sticking a needle in his arms, and I said to myself, ‘You coward. If he can do that, then I can surely do this.’”

Platelets play a critical role in the treatment of millions of Americans fighting cancer, chronic diseases, traumatic injuries and bleeding disorders, like Donnie’s. Every 15 seconds someone in the U.S. need a platelet transfusion. Platelets help the blood clot. They must be transfused within just five days after a donation is made. That’s why there’s a constant — and often critical — need for new and current donors to give to keep up with hospital demand.

“I’m up to 500 donated units of platelets!” Lee said, “I’m so thankful to the people who donated the platelets when Donnie was sick. Without them having done that, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t be here and so I’m very appreciative to the people who have done it before – and hopefully someone can say that about me and my wife.”

Platelet donation is a little different than a regular whole blood donation. Here’s how:
 

• Platelets can only be donated at select American Red Cross Donation Centers and it requires an appointment. They cannot be given at a blood drive.
• Platelet donation uses a machine to extract just your platelets and then returns the rest of your blood back to you.
• From start to finish, it takes about three hours to donate platelets.
• Both arms are used during a platelet donation. This is because blood is drawn from one arm then the platelets are extracted using a machine, and the remaining blood components are returned to you through the other arm.

Platelets can be given every seven days, up to 24 times a year, compared to a max of six whole blood donations. After a platelet donation, they are immediately tested and prepared for delivery to a hospital. About two million units of platelets are transfused each year in the U.S. 

“I’m currently in remission. It was a terminal illness. And it was really bad when I was younger. It could come back, but currently I’m doing okay,” Donnie said. “The blood and the platelets are what got me through – and the donors that we have here are what let me do that.”

He says he owes his life to committed donors, like his grandfather. Thirteen years after his first donation, Lee has clearly replenished what Donnie needed – and yet he feels the need to keep making his donation appointments.

“I’m retired and I pretty much just take care of grandkids and do things to help my children – and this just makes you feel good. When you walk out of here you really feel like you’ve done something,” Lee said. “Someone is alive, perhaps, because of what you did, and you know that a lot of people wouldn’t be alive is somebody didn’t do this. If people didn’t come forward, it would be a sad tale.”

“It saved my life. There’s no way to beat around the bush. Blood and platelet donation is necessary and it’s amazing – and I thank everyone who’s ever done it,” Donnie said. “I know that doctors, nurses, firefighters and police officers get a lot of credit, but those who donate through the American Red Cross are heroes too.”

To learn more about platelet donation, or to make an appointment to give visit RedCross.Blood.org.