I saved a life today

For my first blog post of the season i decided to go with a rest day. Why? Today, even though i didn't swim, bike, or run, i saved at least 1 life. Today i underwent apheresis, meaning i donated platelets.


I get a call about once a month to donate blood. I haven't had the time or the want really to give up my precious red blood cells during my training because i thought i'd lose out on what i've gained. Silly, and selfish, i know, but it's the truth. About 2 weeks ago, i got one of those calls, and this time i decided to donate, it had been about a year since my last donation so i figured why not. I set up the appointment and about 2 days later got another phone call. it went something like this:

Hooked up to the machine

Me: Hello

Blood Lady: Hi can i speak to Matthew?

Me: This is Matt.

Blood Lady: Hi this is Elizabeth from the Blood Centers of the pacific, i see you have an appointment to donate blood.

Me: Yep

Blood Lady: So you have A positive blood type, and that is really sought after for a platelet and donation. Platelets are the...

Me: Yes i know what platelets are.

Blood Lady: Oh, ok, Great! Do you want to donate platelets instead of whole blood?

Me: sure.

3 Units of platelets!

That was it. So i went in today to donate. It took an hour and 45 minutes to donate 3 units of platelets, the most anyone can give at one time. That was impressive. And during that 1:45 i got to surf the web on this cool computer that swings over the bed you're laying in. The cool part that i didn't know about was that they pump the red blood cells back in after they separate the plasma and the platelets.

Not everyone can or wants to train for a triathlon to help cure cancer. Not everyone can donate blood (Erin can't, not enough iron). But everyone can support us, either through encouragement or donations to our efforts.

So today i saved a life. What did you do?