Types of Donations

Blood may be transfused as whole blood or as one of its components. Because our patients seldom require all of the components of whole blood, it makes sense to transfuse only that portion needed by the patient for a specific condition or disease or to counter the effects of their treatment. Our donor center uses a number of donation processes in order to meet the needs of our special patient population.

There are basically 4 main types of blood donation:

• Platelets (routine donation)
• Whole blood (routine donation)
• Granulocytes (performed per physician order only)
• Bone Marrow (not performed in the donor center)

Some interesting facts regarding blood product donation at St. Jude:

• All products collected at the St. Jude Blood Donor Center go directly to St. Jude patients.
• By donating blood products at St. Jude, you help the hospital to offset the cost of having to purchase blood products from sources outside of the hospital.
• The cost involved in the purchase of one unit of platelets from an outside provider costs the hospital between $500-$700: a whole blood unit cost approximately $250.
• About 800 blood product transfusions are performed during a typical month at St. Jude.
• A patient whose treatment involves a bone marrow transplant will typically require 20 units of whole blood and 120 units of platelets during the course of their treatment.

Whatever type of donation you choose to make, know that you can directly help a child at St. Jude.