Donating blood | Arthritis Information

Just curious, my nephew ( my brothers' son) has non-hodgkins lymphoma and has been needing blood transfusions. As RA patients can we give blood ?( my brother and sister-in-law are requesting blood). Also, since I had a blood transfusion due to bleeding ulcers can I give blood?

I hate to sound like such a dummy but I had to ask. I would do anything to help a family member, especially my niece or any of my nephews. I have been contacting as many people as I can to encourage them to donate blood. I certainly hope I can but I probably can't huh?

jode

lol, you are probably not gonna believe this, but I actually called my ex husband who lives in Indianapolis and asked him if he would donate blood for Adam..........I told him not to feel obligated and it was a totally personal decision on his part and he did not HAVE to but that my brother and sis-in-law were requesting blood donors.

I figured, what the heck, we were married for 21 years, he watched my niece and all my nephews grow up. Besides, ya never know till you ask! Right?

jode

It is very difficult to donate blood for a specific recipient. At least that is
what they will tell you at Red Cross and United Blood Services here. You
can donate blood but it is not the blood that he will get. Also, you must
be a match. It will depend on what blood type you and him are. I live in a
very rural area and many patients ask this question and we tell them that
outside the match problem, they cannot specifically give blood from one
person to another. Now, a person can bank their own blood for future
use and people do that all the time becoming autologous donors. This
blood must be used within a certain period of time and cannot be given
to any one else but the person that it came from. It is banked if you are
having an orthopedic surgery or other surgery where a large blood loss is
anticipated. If you call up the hospital lab where Adam is a patient, in
larger areas, this may be possible. Call the lab and ask them if this is
possible in your area. I just know where I'm from, they don't have the
ability to ensure that a certain patient gets that unit of blood.

You might be able to give blood depending on the meds you are on. Check out the Red cross website and see what it says, or call one in your area. Good Luck and My prayers are w/ your nephew!

Oh, ok, thanks! Well maybe what I meant to ask if they credit Adam's blood bank account? or even have one of those? Like if lets say my daughter donates blood knowing she is prob not a match, will Adam be able to recieve a unit of blood cause a fmaily member donated?

I hope this makes sense, I am not sure how to word it. It has been an extremely long day!

Also, can we as RA patients donate blood? I was thinking maybe not due to the RA and all the meds. I suppose I Will call Red Cross tomorrow and ask.

FYI: My sister tried to bank her blood for a very long durgery to remove a huge cyst and her blood made it to the hospital but was never refrigerated, so she could not use her own blood and all that time and effort of weeks and months preparation...............that was many years ago but we were all FURIOUS!

jode

Yes, here they will credit him for the blood that is donated. I'm not sure
about the meds and RA, it is a good question. Oh my about the blood not
being refridgerated. How weird, there are such strict guidelines on that too.
I'm just not sure how that was overlooked. How did they rectify that?When my son was younger and needed his tonsils out, I was freaking about blood loss and the chance that he could get infected blood. My husband, myself and my family all were matches. We had to all go to the same place for collection and they gave us all blood bags with his name on it. They told me it could be done. Fortunately he didn't need it, so at that point the blood goes into the regular blood bank.

They didn't rectify it. They said at the time....sorry. That was it. She and the insurance company paid for the blood and she was fortunate the blood was not tainted. it still is upsetting. I am glad they changed the rules on that. Of course that was many years ago, it still sticks in our minds.

Thanks for the info. I will call the Red Cross today.

jode

This reminds me of when I was a new grad out of nursing school. Worked
on an ambulatory telemetry unit. One of our nurses was told that the blood
needed to be warmed (meaning to be put onto a blood warming machine).
She didn't realize what they meant and put the blood in the microwave. Lets
just say that she didn't work there long.

I asked my Rheum Dr. about that years ago. At the time, the red cross will accept blood from RA patients. My Dr. advised against it for two reasons. One, the person getting the blood is already in a weakened condition and probably does not need blood full of our anti-bodies. And two, our bone marrow doesn't produce blood as fast as a normal person so giving lots of blood can be hard on our bodies, especially if we are flaring.

I do know you can donate in some ones name. When I had my twins back in 2001, I lost a bunch of blood when they were delivered and needed 4-5 units of blood. At my step-Dad's work they were having a red cross blood drive, so my step-Dad and several of his friends gave blood in my name and it was suppose to be credited to my account.

Good luck to you and your family.