Did You Know?
- a single donation of blood from you could potentially help save the lives of as many as three patients
- each unit of donated blood can be separated into several components that have different uses in patient care: red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets, cryoprecipitate, fibrin sealant, various immune globulins, and clotting factors
- on average, a single heart surgery uses the red blood cells and platelets from six donations
- on average, a single bone marrow transplant uses the platelets from about 120 donations and the red blood cells from about 20 donations
- on average, a single liver transplant patient needs 40 pints of red blood cells, 30 pints of platelets, 20 bags of cryoprecipitate, and 25 pints of plasma
- severe burn victims can need the platelets from about 20 donations during their treatment
- premature infants need blood and platelets
- patients of all ages need red blood and platelets during cancer treatment
- trauma patients need red blood cells and plasma
- people of all ages with clotting disorders need clotting factors to stop their bleeding to death from even minor injuries
- approximately 32,000 pints of blood are used each day in the United States
- anyone at least 17 years old and weighing 110 pounds or more may donate blood as often as every 56 days
- if you began donating blood at 17 and donated every 56 days until you were 76, you would have donated 48 gallons of blood
- blood makes up about 7% of your bodyweight, and the adult of average weight has about 10-12 pints of blood
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