When you ask blood donors about their “why” for donating blood to the American Red Cross, their reasons are as diverse as the donors themselves. For Patricia Kelly, it was personal.

Kelly wanted to give back as a thank you to donors who came before her. It was their blood and platelet donations that she credited with helping to save the life of her son, Ryan, who was battling acute myeloid leukemia. Today, his cancer is in remission.

Ryan received numerous transfusions while in the hospital. But when a national blood shortage threatened the blood supply, Kelly stepped forward and made her first platelet donation in April 2022.

“If it wasn’t for selfless donors, he wouldn’t be around,” Kelly said. “That’s why I pay it forward.”

When she learned that the Red Cross was opening a new blood and platelet donation center in Brighton, near her home in Howell Township, Kelly was eager to be among the first donors to schedule an appointment. She was the first to make a platelet donation.

Kelly has given 18 platelet donations each of the last three years at the Ann Arbor Red Cross Blood and Platelet Donation Center. That proficiency earned her a place on plaques for 2022, 2023 and 2024 that hang on the wall at the donation center celebrating devoted platelet donors.

"It's a commitment,” Kelly said of giving platelets. “It’s 110 minutes in the chair. That’s big time as far as I’m concerned.

Platelets are the clotting portion of blood and are needed for many reasons, but they are primarily given to cancer patients. Platelets have a short shelf life – five days from the time they are donated – so there is a constant, often critical, need for new and current donors to give to keep up with hospital demand for platelets.

“If I can get at least one person to donate blood or platelets from my story, that’s a win,” Kelly said. “Nobody thinks about it unless it happens to them, and they need it.”

By David Olejarz, regional communications director