I am a platelet donor, I have been for almost 7 years now, I used to be a blood donor but then they discovered that I have a really high platelet count and asked if I would donate platelets rather than whole blood. I can give a triple donation every 3-4 weeks rather than the 12 weeks you have to wait between blood donations. Without going into gory details, this is because you get your red blood cells back when you donate platelets so your body doesn't have to restock for as long between donor sessions.
Anyway the reason for the Success in the title, is that for the last 6months I have struggled to get my iron levels high enough for them to allow me to donate, they are high enough for healthy living, but there is a Euro legislation which sets the 'safe' level... I have always been just under it or occasionally a fair bit under it, but when I went today I had a cracking Hb count of 13 (the level is 12.5) so I was over the moon that I was able to donate again! Three adults on chemotherapy or undergoing major surgery or 9 premature babies or children undergoing chemo will benefit from the fact that I spent an hour sitting squeezing a mini rugby ball :-)
I'm not looking for praise or glory, but if you read this and you're a healthy, fit adult would you consider donating blood, or platelets? You could be saving someone's life... Thanks x
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