12/29/04

MEDIA CONTACT:
Michele Hyndman at (650) 723-7831 or (650) 799-9885, ( )

BLOOD DONOR TO MAKE HIS 300TH DONATION ON NEW YEAR'S EVE

STANFORD, Calif. – Jonathan Cranch of Palo Alto will be making his 300th blood donation at the Stanford Blood Center this Friday. He has been donating blood components at Stanford for well over a decade. "This is a great way to welcome the New Year," said Recruitment Consultant Jennifer Reczkowski. "We'll be celebrating the New Year as well as this donor milestone with a prize drawing and festive foods. We'd love people to stop by to see what all the fuss is about, and hopefully to donate and save a life, too!"

Jonathan has given platelets through a process called Automated Blood Collection (ABC), which is a special kind of blood donation that allows the blood center to collect specific blood components. Patients undergoing cancer therapy and those with leukemia do not have enough platelets because disease or rigorous cancer treatment has damaged their bone marrow. This can cause hemorrhage. Transfusions of platelets donated through ABC help keep these patients alive while allowing time for their treatments to fight cancer. The ABC process typically takes two hours and requires an initial whole blood donation with Stanford.

The festivities will take place at the Stanford Blood Center, 780 Welch Road in Palo Alto, between 7:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. For an appointment or more information, call 650-723-7831 or visit http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu. Drop-ins accepted.

# # #

Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions – Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication & Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu.