Guy Wheatley
The Texarkana Gazette

I've given blood since I was in college. A distant relative had surgery delayed because there wasn't enough blood available. I remember thinking that it just didn't seem possible in America. I thought that when you went to a hospital, you'd get what you need. Until that time, it had never seriously occurred to me that someone might not be able to get life saving treatment because something wasn't available. A few days later, a blood mobile came to Henderson State University and I began a life-long habit of blood donation.
I've been a fairly regular donor at United Blood Services since shortly after moving to Texarkana. Now, I'm doing something different. A new procedure has been available in Texarkana for less than two years called Apheresis. Apheresis is a procedure in which blood is drawn from a donor, components are separated out and the remaining blood is returned to the donor. The specific procedure I was undergoing is plateletpheresis. As the name implies, I was donating platelets.
With plateletpheresis, the blood volume is much less drastically reduced and a donor is eligible for donation again in a few days. United Blood Services allows up to 24 donations in a year's time, and usually schedules donations at two-week intervals. This procedure collects ten times as many platelets as is available in a regular blood donation. Add to that the fact that you can donate four times as often and you start to get an idea of why they are so excited when somebody volunteers for this.
So, here I sit waiting to start my first plateletpheresis donation. The nurse runs her finger up my arm, thumps it once, then sticks in the needle. It's a large needle, but if I hadn't been watching, I would have never known when she inserted it. This girl is good. They've given me a heating pad, crackers and water, and the remote to the TV. Every few minutes someone comes by to see if I'm all right and tells me again how much they appreciate this donation. I'm actually starting to feel guilty. Here I am, being pampered and praised for basically sitting in a recliner watching television.
As predicted, I start to feel a tingling around my lips. The nurse says that it feels like kissing somebody with a mustache. I'll take her word for it, never having had that particular experience. A couple of Tums or some crackers make the feeling go away. They've got a box of movies if you care to see one. I've elected to go with a cable news station.
One of the stories on the news covers American Troops in Afghanistan. Being an army brat and stationed overseas with my family when I was young, I grew up with the concept that America will send troops to fight deadly enemies on foreign soil. As I sit here now, it occurs to me that I am doing something similar.
My platelets, like American soldiers, will travel to a foreign place and engage in a life and death struggle with a deadly enemy. While there is no guarantee of victory, they will make a difference. Hopefully, they will save a life. At the very least, they will provide hope where there was none. My soldier platelets are outnumbered and have only limited stamina. If not used within five days, they will have to be discarded. I'm told this rarely happens because the need is so great, and the donors are so few.
Some people can't give blood. My family has four people, and I am the only eligible donor. Those of us fortunate enough to be able to give have an obligation to do so. Lives depend on it. Some people are squeamish about needles, and I have no intention of belittling them. But how many of us would let someone die to avoid a little discomfort.
Apheresis has the added disadvantage of taking more time. The procedure will take from one-and-a-half, to two hours. Add to that the time for paper work and you are looking at two, to two-and-a-half hours. This is unfortunately a killing point for many people. It probably explains why Apheresis donors are so rare. After all, time is money. But what is the life of a child fighting cancer worth? Surely more than two hours labor. One of those hours can be a lunch hour.
I am fortunate that my employer will allow me to make this time up later so that I can donate. Any employer who puts his business ahead of a cancer patient, or someone needing heart surgery deserves to go broke. Eligible Apheresis donors are too rare a commodity to waste. It boggles the mind to think that a business owner could be so selfish and self absorbed that they wouldn't allow an employee the time to save a few lives. Probably some are.
In some cases, employees may simply assume that the boss would say no, and never ask. Those people are doing their employers a disservice. It is terrible to assume that somebody would just sit back and allow another person to die. Ask! Give them a chance. Maybe the boss will go with you and also donate.
Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, "Never have so few had the opportunity to do so much for so many, so easily."

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