NEWARK MAN JOINS ELITE GROUP OF BLOOD DONORS WITH 200TH PLATELET DONATION
NEWARK, DE - 58-year-old Eric Mayer of Newark, Delaware will be making his 200th platelet donation at Blood Bank of Delmarva's Christiana Center on Thursday, April 23 at 7:30am (donation will last more than one hour). He joins an elite group of only 5 other platelet donors in the Blood Bank database who have donated more than 200 times.
"I remember the first time I told my mom I was coming in to donate platelets about 15 years ago," Mayer said. "She got the biggest smile on her face and told me how proud she was. I've been donating platelets twice a month ever since. I consider the Blood Bank my happy place."
A platelet donation (called plateletpheresis) provides 6 to 10 times more platelets than platelets extracted from a regular whole blood donation. Platelets have a shelf life of just five days and are needed to treat people with leukemia or cancer. During plateletpheresis, the donor's blood passes through a machine that separates out the platelets and returns the red cells and other components to the donor in a sterile procedure. The process takes about 90 minutes. Donors can give platelets every two weeks.
To learn more about becoming a pheresis donor, click here.
