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#WhyIGiveBlood: 300 Donations and Counting

April 26, 2012 at 11:59 am
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By Jim Early, 300-time blood donor
Above, Jim (with nurse, Raquel Morgia, sneaking in a smile) stands beside a quilt his wife made from his collection of SBC t-shirts.

When I was twenty-two I was sick with an intestinal disease. In a month's time I went from healthy to hospital patient and for the next seven weeks I lived in the Old Hoover Pavilion Stanford Hospital. I ate nothing by mouth and instead received all my nutrition from IVs into my arms and eventually via a central line. A year later I was back again and after another three weeks opted for corrective surgery. After some major surgery, a few revisions, and many units of blood, (during and post op) I was healthy again. While being treated I thought very little about where the blood came from or who was giving it, I just wanted to feel better.


Chronic illness in childhood: One patient’s story

April 24, 2012 at 11:13 am
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By Erin Digitale, Writer for Stanford School of Medicine's Communications & Public Affairs Department

Rahman Humphries was trying to pass a 100-yard swimming test on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout. He dreamed of achieving the highest award that the Boy Scouts offer, but he was struggling to make the distance.


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Casey’s Rocky Start

April 17, 2012 at 10:48 am
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Casey Rockey was born with supravalvular aortic stenosis, a rare heart condition that causes a narrowing of his aortic valve at the opening. He required beta blockers for a year to manage his stenosis and tachycardia and, at age three and a half, it was time for open-heart surgery.


Blood Drive Coordinator Dedicated to #SavingLives

April 11, 2012 at 11:36 am
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By Julie Ruel, Social Media Manager, Stanford Blood Center

Stacey Tinianov began coordinating our Cisco blood drives in 2009 and, to date, has brought in almost 3,000 units of blood. Less than a year after taking on her responsibilities as a blood drive coordinator, she joined our Donor Cup competition and won the award for highest number of units collected. She and her husband both donate as often as they can and she loves, loves, loves to tweet about her upcoming blood drives, and her many other activities for that matter, as @coffeemommy.


Life is Precious

April 4, 2012 at 11:17 am
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By Tim Gilmore, Blood Drive Account Manager, Stanford Blood Center

Last year, my cousin's husband, Darren, became extremely ill. He was rushed to a hospital in Central California but after days of declining health, doctors decided that he needed to be taken by medevac to Stanford Hospital. Upon his arrival, he was met by world-class physicians who rushed to diagnose his symptoms. After being stabilized at Stanford, his health started to improve and we learned that he had leukemia. He started a treatment plan immediately and began receiving numerous blood products.


A Plan for Clean, Sustainable Energy Worldwide in 20-40 Years

March 27, 2012 at 9:54 am
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By Mark Z. Jacobson, PhD, Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University

Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the most significant problems facing the world today. My upcoming talk at Stanford Blood Center's Café Scientifique on 3/29/12 discusses a plan to solve the problems by powering 100% of the world's energy for all purposes, including electricity, transportation, industry, and heating/cooling, with wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) within 20-40 years.


Transplants for Two: Twins Get New Livers to Treat Rare Disease

March 23, 2012 at 9:29 am
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Twins Sophia and Charlotte Gonzalez required numerous blood transfusions as newborns and again during their recent liver transplants. The below article is by Erin Digitale, Writer for Stanford School of Medicine's Communications & Public Affairs Department.

In a small room at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Megan and Ricky Gonzalez each held one hand of their daughter Sophia, comforting her as she recovered from a Nov. 8 liver transplant. Near Sophia's crib, her identical twin, Charlotte, babbled happily in the girls' double stroller. Charlotte was waiting her turn — which came Nov. 27 — for her own liver transplant to treat the metabolic disease that nearly killed both girls as newborns.


Teenage RBCs

March 20, 2012 at 3:25 pm
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By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin's Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center

Today is the first day of spring! Get ready to be wowed by flowers blooming, love blossoming, and newborn farm animals running around. Youth and spring make blood bankers think of reticulocytes, red blood cells that haven't fully matured (the teenagers of the red cell world).


A Close Shave with Barber-Surgeons

March 15, 2012 at 1:28 pm
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By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin's Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center

Phlebotomy was once a hair-raising occupation. The PBS series Red Gold: The Epic Story of Blood tells of a specialized medical practitioner that arose in the Middle Ages: the barber-surgeon. Not only could you get your hair cut at the barber shop, but the barbers performed some minor surgical procedures such as blood letting as well. They created their own guild, competed with doctors, and advertised their services with their unique barber's pole still in use today.