NIH supporter celebrates 300th platelet donation

Episode # 114
Uploaded: October 31, 2012
Running Time: 1:48

CROWN: From the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, this is CLINICAL CENTER RADIO.

The NIH Blood Bank celebrated one of its donors recently who hit a major milestone – 300 platelet donations. Elmer Sappington of Altoona, PA, has been donating platelets at the NIH Blood Bank for more than 40 years. Monica Riordan, an apheresis specialist says:

RIORDAN: He comes in every month for years and years and years, and he's just a great, happy person. We really enjoy having him here.

CROWN: Platelets are small cells that help the blood to clot. Each year, more than 30,000 units of platelets are transfused at the Clinical Center to treat patients undergoing cancer therapy, stem cell transplants, and other diseases that require platelet therapy. These platelets come from healthy people like Sappington who donate them to the NIH Blood Bank, managed by the Department of Transfusion Medicine. Sappington said he enjoys his monthly trips to the NIH Blood Bank, too, mostly because of the people he meets.

SAPPINGTON: I've seen people come and go...I've seen people retire. Doesn't say too much about my youth!

CROWN: Sappington says his goal is to get to 400 donations within the next eight years. His reason:

SAPPINGTON: People actually need all the help they can get. If you became disabled for whatever reason you would want someone to help you. It's the right thing for everybody.

CROWN: From America's Clinical Research Hospital, this has been CLINICAL CENTER RADIO. In Bethesda, Maryland, I'm Ellen Crown, at the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

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