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CBS Donation 9 May 2024
2 units of platelets and a unit of plasma. New procedure post-donation that the medical staff have to perform that adds about 15 minutes to the time between donors as the machines can’t be sterilized. The new process adds 500 ml of an anti-bacterial solution to the platelets and plasma.
 

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The Fifteenth Annual MacRumors Blood Drive runs for the month of May 2024. If you are eligible, we ask you to donate blood, platelets, or plasma this month. Your donation will help other people survive or recover from injury, surgery, or illness (see the Blood and Platelet Donation FAQ).

We also ask that you register as an organ donor and register for the bone marrow registry, if you haven't already. You might preserve the life of someone who suffers organ failure, or cure someone of a life-threatening disease like leukemia (see Organ, Tissue, and Bone Marrow Donation FAQ).


How to participate in the MacRumors Blood Drive

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


Donate at any donation center in your area. Pick a day when you can spare an hour or two, and make an appointment.​
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.​
If you are ineligible or deferred from donating, please support our drive by convincing someone you know to donate, and you'll both earn a spot on the Honor Roll.​

2. Let us know

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 or register, post in this thread and tell us about it. For blood, platelet, and plasma donations, tell us how many units. You can even post a photo of your arm bandage or plaster.​
Check out our Honor Roll, where we give you public thanks for your generosity.​

3. Spread the word - #MacRumorsBloodDrive

Let others know about the need for these donations. Share with your followers. Encourage friends, relatives, classmates, and coworkers to donate.​
If you or someone in your family has received a blood or platelet transfusion, share your story.​
And please thank the donors who post here.​


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=2425233]MacRumors Blood Drive[/thread]![/COLOR][/B] :)​

  2. Download this image, then use it to set your avatar:

    View attachment 2373444
I donated Friday in Toledo, Ohio. It was a Power Red donation and took me up to 61 units of total donations. I've also been signed up as an Organ Donor for many years.
 

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Don't ya love it when the MacRumors blood drive falls during a May that the 1st, 2nd or 3rd falls on your biweekly donation day?

So put me down for 3 apheresis donations for a total of 7 units of platelets and 2 units of plasma.

And a shout out to the wonderful people at the American Red Cross donor center in Woodland Hills who did 6 pain free pokes, put up with me and weren't too terribly traumatized by my blood curdling screams when they pulled off the tapes.

Looking forward to another 9 bagger for next year's blood drive.

(I aged out of the marrow registry but I have the pink dot on my DL.)
 
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I do a double red every 4 months. Lined up that I just did one. Thanks for the reminder Q!
 

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The results are in!

Check out the Blood Drive summary statistics in the MacRumors 2024 Blood Drive thread.

Thank you to all of this year's participants!


How to Keep Participating: June 2024 through April 2025

Blood, platelet, and plasma donors can continue to participate.

Record your donations on the Team MacRumors page. We'll tally your donations and count them for the MacRumors Blood Drive next May.
  1. Go to the Team MacRumors page and click PLEDGE TO GIVE BLOOD. Bookmark the page for the future.
  2. Fill in your MacRumors username as your first name and @ macrumors as your last name.
  3. In the comments field, tell us what type of donation and how many units, e.g., 1 unit of whole blood, 2 units of platelets, etc.
  4. The email address and zip code fields don't matter. MacRumors won't use that information.
If you also want to post here about your donation, that's fine, since it helps encourage others to participate!
 
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Tally me for another, donated Saturday. I'm a quick donation - 5 minutes from the stick to collecting the coin (the scale makes a noise like collecting a coin on NES Mario...)
 
20 years ago today, I donated my first unit of platelets. Since then, I’ve donated platelets 424 times since 28 October 2004. In that time, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) has upgraded their apheresis machines three times. I only did single-unit donations before 2016, when they upgraded to their current machines by Trima. Starting in March 2018, I did a double unit platelet donation and a unit of plasma every third time I donated. Starting in January 2022, doing a double platelet and single plasma donation every visit became the norm. Lots of things have changed since that first platelet donation 20 years ago.
 
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Congrats on 100 @Neil.gtis

My next donation is scheduled for this coming weekend. I got an email that my donation center is piloting a new donation experience. No more finger stick!! I'm also in a predicament - I have a regular Dr. appointment on Thursday, they're going to offer flu and COVID vaccines. I might have to decline them...
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It would be nice if other donation centers adopted the OrSense device too. Doctors no longer use leeches for bloodletting (as far as I know!), and maybe we could eliminate the finger-stick bloodletting as well!

If you don't mind a short delay in getting your vaccinations, you can get them after your blood donation instead of before, maybe at a pharmacy instead of at a doctor's office.
 
If you don't mind a short delay in getting your vaccinations, you can get them after your blood donation instead of before, maybe at a pharmacy instead of at a doctor's office.
yeah, I usually get them at the pharmacy at the supermarket. My trips to the supermarket the last few weeks have been later than usual due to some other things going on so I miss the pharmacist, or I would have gotten the jabs already.
 
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