MacRumors 2019 Blood Drive!

[Doctor Q]

The Tenth Annual MacRumors Blood Drive runs for the month of May 2019. We ask you to donate blood and platelets this month, register as an organ donor, and/or register for the bone marrow registry. Let's save some lives!

Your blood or platelet donation will help other people survive or recover from injury, surgery, or illness. Your registration as a potential organ or bone marrow donor gives you the potential to preserve the life of someone who suffers organ failure or cure someone of a life-threatening disease. See the MacRumors Blood Drives FAQ for details.

How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive:

1. Donate blood or platelets, register as an organ donor, or register as a bone marrow donor.

Donate blood or platelets at any donation center in your area. Pick a day when you can spare an hour or two, and make an appointment. See the Blood and Platelet Donation FAQ for details.

Registering as an organ donor is easy. Depending on your country, you may be able to register online by filling out a form. You may be asked to sign a donor card or put a sticker on your driver's license. To register to be a stem cell or bone marrow donor, you typically fill out a form and have your cheek swabbed. See the Organ, Tissue, and Bone Marrow Donation page for details.

Not everyone is eligible to donate blood. There are restrictions on age, weight, donation frequency, health conditions, etc. See the Blood donor eligibility thread for discussions of the donor restrictions on sexually active gay males and news about the change this year in Denmark. Please support our drive whether or not you can donate blood yourself.
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2. Let us know about it

The reward for donating or registering is personal satisfaction from helping others. But we want to add to your reward by giving you a well-deserved pat on the back.

After you donate, become an organ donor, or sign up for a registry, post to tell us about it. For blood and platelet donations, tell us how many units.

Check out our Honor Roll, where we give you public thanks for your generosity, and to encourage others.
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3. Spread the word

Let others know about the need for these donations. Share on social media. Convince a friend, relative, classmate, or coworker to donate blood or platelets. If you do, tell us about it and you'll both join our Honor Roll.
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[Doctor Q]

The following MacRumors users have reported their blood, platelet, or plasma donations, either posting in this thread or reporting their donations on our team page.

Members who have just registered for the bone marrow registry or just have registered as an organ donor are also listed.

Please help us congratulate and thank these forum members for doing their part to help people in need!

• barbu: blood donation
  
  
• bunnspecial: platelet donation (3 units)
  
  
• Doctor Q: 3 blood donations
  
  
• FloatingBones: 7 blood donations
  
  
• hallux: blood donation
  
  
• jbachandouris: blood donation
  
  
• Linda: platelet donation
  
  
• skinuca (this year's featured donor): platelet donation (2 units)
  
  
• vault: 5 blood donations
  
  
• stridemat: blood donation
  
  
• Timelordprime: 7 platelet donations (2 units each)
  
  
• Venron: blood donation (2 units)
  
  
• casperes1996: blood donation
  
  
• eric4: blood donation (2 units)
  
  
• hermes16: blood donation
  
  
• Jason: blood donation
  
  
• afir93: blood donation
  
  
• Robert: blood donation
  
  
• Katelyn: blood donation
  
  
• waldo647: blood donation
  
  
• 7thson: platelet donation (3 units)
  
  
• bunnspecial: platelet donation (3 units)
  
  
• gentlegiantcrai: 2 blood donations
  
  
• jaknudsen: blood donation
  
  
• dynamojoe: platelet donation
  
  
• JamesMike's teammates: 11 blood donations
  
  
• ozziejeff: 2 blood donations and 3 plasma donations
  
  
• moovyphreak: blood donation
  
  
• bogie66: blood donation
  
  
• AlliFlowers: platelet donation and plasma donation
  
  
• Venron: blood donation (2 units)
  
  
• mgmodell: blood donation
  
  
• montycat: plasma donation
  
  
• Timelordprime: platelet donation (2 units)
  
  
• JamesMike's team: 9 blood donations
  
  
• vault: blood donation
  
  
• vault: registered as a bone marrow donor
  
  
• Slade Mahoney: blood donation
  
  
• jbachandouris: blood donation
  
  
• Doctor Q: blood donation
  
  
• 7thson: platelet donation (2 units)
  
  
• gentlegiantcrai: blood donation
  
  
• JamesMike's team: 15 blood donations
  
  
• rcappo: blood donation
  
  
• skinuca: 4 platelet donations (3 units each)
  
  
• chaleyer: 13 plasma donations, one also with a platelet donation
  
  
• chaleyer's wife: 10 plasma donations
  
  
• barbu: blood donation

Totals

Blood donations: 82 units
Platelet donations: 47 units
plasma donations: 29 units
Newly registered bone marrow donors: 1

Total units: 158​

 

[Doctor Q]

Two other ways to support the MacRumors Blood Drive

1. Edit your forum signature and paste in this line:
   
   
   :) [B][COLOR=red]I support the [thread=2179845]MacRumors Blood Drive[/thread]![/COLOR][/B] :)​
   
   
2. Download this image, then use it to set your avatar:
   
   

 

[JamesMike]

The teams have started to donate this week; 1 American, 1 British, 1 French and a spouse team made of American/British ladies, so far no French spouses, but the pressure is being applied...lol! Other SO nationalities have shown an interest especially Aussies/Kiwa Special Ops and are in the process of forming a team. There will be 29 people donating so far this month.

 

[stridemat]

I am giving blood again on the 17th May, so all being well will add to the count.

 

[casperes1996]

I have no idea how this actually works. I haven't ever participated before - Do you literally just write in this forum and then someone reads through all of it registering the self-reported data?

Oh well, in any case;

I've been signed up as an organ donor for a few years now, and started giving blood late last year. The centre said they won't need any more for quite a while, but that they'd send a text when I should come back. You typically get notices well in advance, but I have quite a rare blood type (B-) so they told me I should be prepared that if an accident happens that needs a lot at once, they may call me on as an emergency contact.

So far I've only been to one donation, but unless anything happens I'm scheduled for another in June - I guess that means it won't be registered for the Blood Drive thing? But I've done the clicking pledge to donate thing on the site.

My last donation was 28th of December... They apparently really don't need me so often, hehe

Anyways; Good to see a lot of support around this.

 

[Doctor Q]

I have no idea how this actually works. I haven't ever participated before - Do you literally just write in this forum and then someone reads through all of it registering the self-reported data?

Oh well, in any case;

I've been signed up as an organ donor for a few years now, and started giving blood late last year. The centre said they won't need any more for quite a while, but that they'd send a text when I should come back. You typically get notices well in advance, but I have quite a rare blood type (B-) so they told me I should be prepared that if an accident happens that needs a lot at once, they may call me on as an emergency contact.

So far I've only been to one donation, but unless anything happens I'm scheduled for another in June - I guess that means it won't be registered for the Blood Drive thing? But I've done the clicking pledge to donate thing on the site.

My last donation was 28th of December... They apparently really don't need me so often, hehe

Anyways; Good to see a lot of support around this.

It's great that you're a blood donor, and signed up as an organ donor too.

You are correct that posting in this thread is all that's required to participate in our Blood Drive. We're tallying self-reported donations by forum members as a way to call attention to the need for blood and platelet donations. We also think that donors deserve a public thanks now and then.

As a B- donor, you're giving blood that anyone with type B or type AB can use. You're correct that type B- is rare. In the U.S. it ranges from from 0.4% to 2.0% of the population, depending on ethnicity.

We run a Blood Drive every May, because it would lose its attention-getting appeal if it ran all the time. However, we know that many forum members donate regularly, so last year we added the Team Page so that they could note their donations between this year's Blood Drive and next year's Blood Drive. If you post in this thread in May then you don't need to go to the Team Page too. If people use the Team Page in May, we'll treat it as if they had posted here.

 

[casperes1996]

Thanks for the explanation. I've seen the Blood Drive come and go a few times thinking it was a cool initiative but not noticing it much other than that. Now that I'm signed up as a donor anyway, figured I'd look into it more

As a B- donor, you're giving blood that anyone with type B or type AB can use. You're correct that type B- is rare. In the U.S. it ranges from from 0.4% to 2.0% of the population, depending on ethnicity.

As far as I've heard it sits at 1.6% or so here in Denmark, so yeah, quite rare. Regarding use of the blood, as it stands there's enough blood of all varieties in the blood banks here that they only use full matches, so my blood wouldn't be used in the AB case, although it is possible, sure. And if there were a sudden need for AB blood due to an emergency, and AB donors were unavailable, it's not like they wouldn't contact me either of course. Or more likely someone with A since that's so much more common.
In any case; The way blood donations work here, is that once you're signed up, you'll get an email or text message when they'd like you to book a time, and then within the next three months you should book an appointment for when it suits you. In very, very rare cases you might get emergency calls and they'll send an ambulance to pick you up wherever you are (and all employers throghout the country will give you paid leave if it were to happen). But the stocks are abundant so it's not really likely to happen, and I don't think it even had happened once for a decade or so now.

We run a Blood Drive every May, because it would lose its attention-getting appeal if it ran all the time. However, we know that many forum members donate regularly, so last year we added the Team Page so that they could note their donations between this year's Blood Drive and next year's Blood Drive. If you post in this thread in May then you don't need to go to the Team Page too. If people use the Team Page in May, we'll treat it as if they had posted here.

Sounds good. I signed up on the team page, so I guess if I remember it I'll note it down in there when I go to my next donation.

Thanks again for the information, and super well done on this long going and awesome initiative - to the entire MacRumors staff and community. It's things like this that takes us all one step above just being a site that discusses computers and moans about emoji. Makes it a lovely community to be a part of.

 

[eric4]

I donated Power Red (2 blood units) on April 26 in the US. Can that count even though it was April?

 

[7thson]

Just about done donating a triple of platelets.

 

[Doctor Q]

I donated Power Red (2 blood units) on April 26 in the US. Can that count even though it was April?

Certainly. Thanks for posting about your donation.

 

[bunnspecial]

Triple of platelets for me yesterday.

 

[OverSpun]

I am glad to see an update for the drive!

I cannot donate because I am a leukemia patient, I certainly received many donations to help me.

 

[gentlegiantcrai]

Donated Whole Blood with my local donation center on 01/28/2019 and 03/29/19, next eligible donation for me will be week of 05/24/19, many thanks to those who donate!

 

[jaknudsen]

I've been donating regularly for 13 years here in Norway, most recently on March 20.

 

[TEG]

I am glad to see an update for the drive!
I cannot donate because I am a leukemia patient, I certainly received many donations to help me.

I used to donate every year, until I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, and my medication prevents me from donating. I also received one unit of blood in 2017 to save me from bleeding to death.

 

[dynamojoe]

Platelets.

 

[Doctor Q]

Great photo, dynamojoe!

 

[JamesMike]

I received reports from the teams and we are starting off well, 11 people have donated from the four teams. Word has gotten out and I have received a number of emails and texts regarding Special Ops individual donations and have replied they are more than welcome to donate as individuals. Will update next week.

 

[ozziejeff]

 

[moovyphreak]

I just donated blood on Friday, May 3rd, although I did just stumble across this thread. I've been donating every 60-70 days for the last 2-3 years.

 

[Doctor Q]

ozziejeff is our first plasma donor for this year!

moovyphreak: We always like hearing from regular donors. If you tell us the dates of your earlier donations, we can count them too.

 

[bogie66]

Donated 1 unit of Blood Friday May 3rd

 

[AlliFlowers]

Last time for platelets and plasma. I passed out at the one hour mark and couldn't continue.

 

[Venron]

Today's double red donation took me to 7 gallons!