When long-time apheresis donor Dawn Chuck was unable to continue giving platelets, she made it a personal goal to recruit as many platelet donors as it would take to make up for losing her… and then some! Dawn (above, second...
Tweet By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center This is one of several questions that we’re often asked by community members. Our ABO (blood type) identity, whether we’re O, A, B, or AB,...
Tweet By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center What does that mean?? Is there a blizzard coming? Cyclone? Mongoose? Groundhogs don’t even see very well so who knows why we rely on them...
Tweet By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center Here’s something interesting about blood types. Humans have 8 major blood types (although we also have hundreds of lesser-known mutations or alleles that are very...
Tweet By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center Did you ever wonder what plasma and sea water have in common? Considering it’s our “inner ocean” and that life may have originated in the...
Below are some reflections by Larry Frederick, a retired Oakland Police officer, who was in a near-fatal accident in 1982. Since his recovery, he has done four cross country tours on his bicycle to raise awareness of the need for...
Tweet By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center Cat blood is designated as either type A, type B, and rarely type AB. Type A is the most common blood type comprising 90-95% of...
Tweet By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center A unit of red blood cells (RBCs) expires in 35 or 42 days because of the type of anticoagulant in the bag. But in real...
When Jenny died on October 28, 1995, a month before her 22nd birthday, she lost her battle with leukemia, but she fulfilled her purpose in life. Just before she died, I promised her that I would carry on that work. To me, it was like receiving a spiritual transfusion. At Jenny's memorial service, I urged people to give blood in her memory and to consider becoming regular donors (giving every eight weeks). For many, the importance of donating blood finally hit home.
The following note was an e-mail sent to a few of us at SBC from our dedicated, invaluable resource at Stanford Hospital’s Transfusion Service department. She asked that we share this with our donors and what a perfect time...