A 7-year-old boy was playing on the playground with his friends when he fell and cut his leg up pretty bad. Normally this would not be a big deal, but this 7-year-old has hemophilia, that means he lacks the anti-hemophilic factor needed for the body to clot the wound to stop the bleeding. One thing used to treat this is plasma proteins from generous donors who are everyday people.
Hemophilia is not the only disease that relies on donated plasma for life-saving treatment. Over a dozen conditions use that plasma. Every donation counts because it takes over 900 donations to treat a single Alpha-1 patient, over 1,200 donations for one patient with hemophilia and neither of those numbers are uncommon for the diseases that use plasma proteins as a treatment. Other than those conditions that patients have to live with daily, there are other conditions that would need plasma during treatment. Burn victims often need plasma protein for short-term care, along with organ transplants, victims of animal bites, those having major surgery and shock.
Donating plasma is not difficult. There are few requirements for your safety that each donor has to meet before every donation. Donors must be at least 110 lbs at most locations, must have normal protein and iron ranges and must not be sick the day of donation. The time spent at the donation center takes about one hour per visit and a maximum of twice a week. Donation centers create a comfortable atmosphere to make everything feel even smoother, it does not feel like you are at a lab full of confusing machinery. There is minimal pain involved and often you are able to work on homework or read during the donation. Another big incentive, other than saving lives, is that centers more often than not, compensate donors. On average the payment is $20 for the first donation of the calendar week and $50 for the second in that same week and can make up to $270 a month. Donating plasma is completely worth it and I would recommend that anyone eligible to give it a try. You are saving lives.
