July 7, 2008
Platelets provide 'ultimate gift'
Kraft Family Blood Donor Center Pheresis Technician Angel Martinez (center) mingles with platelet donors at a recognition breakfast. The Kraft Center collected more than 6,300 platelet units in 2007.
Carlos Almas' daughter Josephine was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 1998, just as she was beginning her senior year of high school. Desperate to help, Almas asked his daughter's Dana-Farber doctor what he could do. The reply: "Have you ever donated platelets?"
Since then, Almas has donated more than 100 times. "If it weren't for all of you, my daughter wouldn't be here today, but she is in remission and doing well," Almas told a crowd at a "Breakfast of Champions" event honoring platelet donors from Dana-Farber's Kraft Family Blood Donor Center. "Soon she'll celebrate her first wedding anniversary. I'm happy that I can help others so they have the chance my daughter did."
Dana-Farber President Edward J. Benz Jr., MD, applauded the generosity of the platelet donors, explaining that Dana-Farber simply could not do its work without this precious resource. Some cancer treatments can be toxic to the system that forms blood cells, and platelet transfusions can help counter those effects. The only source of platelets, which are the clotting agents of the blood, is from healthy volunteer donors.
"Donors are regular people who go to work and watch the Patriots on Sunday, but every couple of weeks they save the life of someone they don't know. Ask them why they do it and most will tell you, 'Why not? Anyone can do it,'" said Kraft Center Assistant Medical Director John Luckey, MD, PhD, at the May 18 event at Gillette Stadium.
Cindy Hale is someone who had a chance, thanks in part to platelet donors. Hale was treated at Dana-Farber for Ewing's sarcoma in December 1999, then later for myelodysplastic syndrome, ultimately receiving a stem cell transplant in May 2002. She provided a patient's perspective for the platelet donors and attendees.
"When I think back on this winding cancer road, I remember most vividly the gifts," said Hale. "Blood and platelets are the ultimate gift you can give. So, how does someone like me say thanks to someone like you? I know the best way I can is to do my part to stay healthy, and I stand here before you today as a two-time cancer survivor, living proof and representing hope."
Benz also provided warm thanks and recognition to Robert and Myra Kraft and their family, benefactors of the Kraft Center since its inception in 1983. Robert Kraft, a Dana-Farber trustee and owner of the New England Patriots, explained to attendees that "for our family, the connection with Dana-Farber is one of our most special partnerships."
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