The Red Cross collects blood donated by about 4.5 million people each year, providing more than 6 million units of blood for patients nationwide. Blood donations help patients being treated for accidents, having routine surgeries, and undergoing treatment for such serious diseases such as cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, heart disease and hemophilia, Haley says. Haley says the Red Cross does try to plan ahead. And we use red blood cells for a variety of illnesses, chronic conditions, cancer patients, regular surgery and trauma. What we're really having difficulty with is platelets, because they last only five days.
Platelets release substances that help blood clot.
At this time of year, we often see a blood shortage, and that's been worsened this year by the weather. Foer says the aging population doesn't help. And that's the age group that donates blood, these same post-World War II veterans. They're our greatest donators. What we need is to replenish that older group with younger donors, ones who are as committed to donating blood as the U.S. veteran generation.