Rebecca Baranowski has donated over 700 units of platelets knowing her donations will help someone!

For more than 40 years, Rebecca has rolled up her sleeve and donated 707 units of platelets helping someone at risk for bleeding. Imagine the impact she has had on saving lives!

While a student at Penn State, Rebecca and her friends began donating and selling plasma for extra money to buy pizza and beer. When she moved to Philadelphia and got a job, she didn’t need the money and switched from donating plasma to donating platelets at the American Red Cross.

Why are platelets so important? They are tiny cell fragments in blood that form clots preventing or stopping bleeding. Patients fighting cancer, those with a bone marrow transplant or who have traumatic injuries, could need platelets. Platelets can be donated up to 24 times a year. Platelets have a very limited shelf life of five days! Donors are needed for frequent and consistent donations to replenish hospital supply.

If you want to donate platelets, you must go to an American Red Cross Blood Donation Center that has an apheresis machine. The platelet donation process begins with blood drawn from one arm that moves through a tube into the apheresis machine where it is rapidly spun around separating platelets from blood. The platelets go into a sterile bag and the rest of the blood is returned by a tube to the other arm. 

“The staff is friendly. I don’t mind giving up 90 minutes or two hours every couple of weeks. I get to watch a movie and relax on a comfy chair," she said.

About the procedure, Rebecca explains, "The needles don’t bother me. When the blood is returned to my vein, it gets a little cold because of the citrate added to the blood. They give me a warm blanket!"

Rebecca says once the needle sticks are done, it’s easy, but she cautions, "You have to remember not to move your arms too much!

"It’s not a difficult process," she said. "It’s one of those things one would do like recycling to benefit people. I like to think that if I needed blood there would be somebody who would donate for me. It’s important and something easy to do, and I get a T-shirt!”

Rebecca enjoys wearing the Red Cross T-shirts because they bring attention to donating blood and give her an opportunity to tell people about her experience! 

Rebecca donates granulocytes too. Granulocyte transfusions are given to patients who have severely suppressed immune systems and are undergoing cancer therapy or have had a bone marrow transplant. A patient must be transfused within 24 hours of granulocyte collection. Rebecca explains she could get a call to donate within hours. The pool of matched donors is limited. Her granulocytes have been typed and only matched with a patient 15 times over 40 years of donating.

When she's not giving platelets, Rebecca is committed to working out with her trainer at a local gym. She’s a member of a Dragon Boat Team, and it’s important for her to stay strong so she can paddle with them.

There are six American Red Cross Blood Donation Centers in Southeastern Pennsylvania, plus one in Wilmington, Delaware less than a mile from the Pennsylvania border near Chadds Ford. To schedule an appointment, visit RedCrossBlood.org.

BUCKS COUNTY
Langhorne Blood Donation Center
100 N. Bucks Town Drive, Suite 204, Langhorne
Tuesday-Wednesday: 11:45 a.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday: 10:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Saturday: 7:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

CHESTER COUNTY
West Chester Blood Donation Center
1065 Andrew Drive, West Chester
Monday-Thursday: 11:45 a.m.-7:45 p.m.
Friday-Saturday: 7:15 a.m.-3 p.m.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY
East Norriton Blood Donation Center
2880 DeKalb Pike, East Norriton
Monday: 11:45 a.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday: 10:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Friday-Saturday: 7:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Horsham Blood Donation Center
116G Welsh Road, Horsham
Monday-Tuesday: 11:45 a.m.-8 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:15 a.m.-7 p.m.
Thursday-Saturday: 7:15 a.m.-3 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA COUNTY
Philadelphia Blood Donation Center
700 Spring Garden St., Philadelphia
Monday-Wednesday: 11:45 a.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday: 10:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Friday-Sunday: 7:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Northeast Philadelphia Blood Donation Center
1401 Rhawn St., Philadelphia
Monday-Wednesday: 11:45 a.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday: 10:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

STATE OF DELAWARE
Wilmington Blood Donation Center
5329 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE
Monday: 11:45 a.m.-8 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:15 a.m.-7 p.m.
Thursday-Sunday: 7:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

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- Written by Judith Weeks