MacRumors 2023 Blood Drive!

[Doctor Q]

The Fourteenth Annual MacRumors Blood Drive runs for the month of May 2023. 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.​

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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.​

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Not everyone is eligible to donate blood. There are restrictions on age, weight, donation frequency, health conditions, and a deferral for gay donors in many countries. In the U.S., the rules may change to base eligibility on personal circumstances rather than sexual orientation. If you are ineligible or deferred, 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.​

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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.​

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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.​

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If you or someone in your family has received a blood transfusion, share your story.​

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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=2388289]MacRumors Blood Drive[/thread]![/COLOR][/B] :)​
   
   
2. Download this image, then use it to set your avatar:
   
   

 

[Doctor Q]

The following MacRumors users have reported their blood, platelet, or plasma donations, either posting in this thread or reporting their donations on last year's Team MacRumors Page.

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

This post is updated as donations are reported.

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

• chengengaun: 3 blood donations
  
  
• Doctor Q: 5 blood donations
  
  
• FloatingBones: blood donation
  
  
• G4-power: blood donation
  
  
• hallux: 6 blood donations
  
  
• Linda+: 6 platelet donations (2 donations of 2 units and 4 donations of 3 units)
  
  
• Timelordprime: 12 platelet and plasma donations (each 2 units of platelets and 1 unit of plasma)
  
  
• zackdumont: blood donation
  
  
• BugeyeSTI: 4 blood donations
  
  
• dWolfers: 3 platelet donations, plus 3 platelet and plasma donations
  
  
• Premium1: blood donation
  
  
• dWolfers: platelet donation
  
  
• Neil.gtis: 3 blood donations
  
  
• Feek: 4 blood donations
  
  
• sunapple: 3 blood donations
  
  
• Timelordprime: platelet donation (2 units) and plasma donation
  
  
• Feek: blood donation
  
  
• phroggie: platelet donation (3 units)
  
  
• Olifant: blood donation
  
  
• phroggie: platelet donations (2 units) and plasma donation
  
  
• Timelordprime: platelet donation (2 units) and plasma donation
  
  
• rcappo: blood donation
  
  
• DCstewieG: blood donation (2 units)
  
  
• BugeyeSTI: blood donation

Totals

Blood donations: 38 units​

Platelet donations: 56 units​

Plasma donations: 18 units​

Bone marrow registrations: 0​

Organ donor registrations: 0​

Total units: 112 units​

Congratulations to every donor!

 

[Doctor Q]

MacRumors Blood Drive: Team MacRumors

The MacRumors 2023 Blood Drive ends on May 31, 2023, but we encourage eligible donors to continue donating blood, platelets, and plasma.

From June 2023 to April 2024, register your donations on our Team MacRumors page:

1. Go to the Team MacRumors 2023-2024 page. Bookmark it for the next time.
2. Click PLEDGE TO GIVE BLOOD.
3. Fill in your MacRumors username as your first name and @ macrumors as your last name.
4. 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.
5. The email address and zip code fields are required, but MacRumors won't use that information.

We'll tally your donations from June to April and count them toward the MacRumors 2024 Blood Drive and its Honor Roll next May!

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Appointment to donate whole blood May 26th set!

 

[dWolfers]

I'll be donating platelets this Saturday morning, which I've been doing every other week for many years. I'm always glad to see that MacRumors is promoting this life saving habit.

 

[Premium1]

Got my appointment set up for tomorrow!

 

[Neil.gtis]

I went last Sunday to give my 95th donation been a blood 🅰️ donor
Since the early 1980s
Neil

 

[Olifant]

Scheduled to donate 20th May … that should make 21 😘

 

[Feek]

I'm booked in for the 17th May.

 

[Doctor Q]

Got my appointment set up for tomorrow!

Hope it went well.

@BugeyeSTI, @dWolfers, @Premium1, @Neil.gtis, and @Feek are now on the Honor Roll for their donations over the past months, not counting any upcoming donations.

 

[Premium1]

Hope it went well.

@BugeyeSTI, @dWolfers, @Premium1, @Neil.gtis, and @Feek are now on the Honor Roll for their donations over the past months, not counting any upcoming donations.

It did. Only had one donation where I got lightheaded ha. Yesterday was in and out smoothly.

 

[sunapple]

Donated blood yesterday. This was my seventh donation since I signed up in August 2021 and my second one this year. Thought I would share experiences as a "starter", maybe it helps some people.

Through signing up and getting tested, I found out I was O negative which I thought was pretty cool. In The Netherlands at Sanquin where I donate, the maximum number of donations is set at 1 unit per 2 months, or 6 per year. Having O negative means in my experience that I am invited every other month to donate.

I was able to donate five times in a row from the start, once every other month. However after my fifth donation they informed me that my ferritin got too low to donate again (they test after each donation and warn you before it gets too low). You are then automatically not invited back for 6 months. It bummed me out that I could not donate for such a long time, felt like I only just started and I never felt any negative effects on my body.

It may be that my body recovers slower than others. The thing is that after 6 months they would again automatically invite me back every other month, as is their system. As suggested at the blood bank I am now postponing some invites, aiming at about 4 donations a year. This way I can keep donating as much as I can🩸

 

[Feek]

Through signing up and getting tested, I found out I was O negative which I thought was pretty cool. In The Netherlands at Sanquin where I donate, the maximum number of donations is set at 1 unit per 2 months, or 6 per year. Having O negative means in my experience that I am invited every other month to donate.

In the UK it's every 12 weeks which works out as 84 days which is how long they say it takes for all the red blood cells to be replaced, which I think is to get the iron levels back up again. We also have the iron (ferritin) test before each donation. I've never failed the iron test but I was close once where it didn't drop quickly enough so they did a second test using some machine.

 

[sunapple]

In the UK it's every 12 weeks which works out as 84 days which is how long they say it takes for all the red blood cells to be replaced, which I think is to get the iron levels back up again. We also have the iron (ferritin) test before each donation. I've never failed the iron test but I was close once where it didn't drop quickly enough so they did a second test using some machine.

That’s interesting; here they check hemoglobin level before donation and ferritin “regularly” after donation.

Not an expert so there may be valid reasons to go one way or another. Probably this works for most people.

 

[Timelordprime]

Donation 430
Canadian Blood Services
2 units platelets
1 unit of Plasma

 

[Doctor Q]

Donation 430
Canadian Blood Services
2 units platelets
1 unit of Plasma

Your donation history is simply amazing!

 

[phroggie]

Two donations: 5 units platelets and 1 unit plasma.

Looking forward to next year's drive when I'll be able to squeeze 3 donations into May. (Assuming the FDA's silly rules about plasma loss yada yada don't force me into the penalty box for 13 days.)

 

[Doctor Q]

Two donations: 5 units platelets and 1 unit plasma.

Looking forward to next year's drive when I'll be able to squeeze 3 donations into May. (Assuming the FDA's silly rules about plasma loss yada yada don't force me into the penalty box for 13 days.)

Thanks for donating and thanks for sharing!

Was one of the donations for 3 units of platelets, and the other donation was for 2 units of platelets plus 1 unit of plasma?

 

[Timelordprime]

Donation 431​

Canadian Blood Services
2 units of Platelets
1 unit of Plasma

 

[Doctor Q]

Great work by the donors above. The Blood Drive total now exceeds 105 units.

 

[rcappo]

I forgot to post this last week, but it is still May and I gave away another pint of A- blood to the blood bank people.

 

[DCstewieG]

Double red of O neg!

 

[Doctor Q]

I forgot to post this last week, but it is still May and I gave away another pint of A- blood to the blood bank people.

Just in time!

Double red of O neg!

As an O negative donor you must be very popular at the donation center!

 

[Doctor Q]

The results are in!

Check out the Blood Drive summary statistics in the MacRumors 2023 Blood Drive thread.

Thank you to all of this year's participants!

 

[Feek]

Totally forgot to post in here again, I did donate on May 17th as scheduled so that will take me to five in the totals.