Posted on 08/26/2004 8:51:13 AM PDT by eccentric
WELCOME BACK... we've missed you.
Good News...you will soon be eligible to help save lives again by donating blood!
It is my extreme pleasure to inform you of an important testing advancement at the Red Cross which enables me to welcome you back as a potential blood or apheresis donor.
At the time of your last donation, we wrote to advise you of an alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation we had found when testing your blood. ALT is an enzyme found in the liver and other parts of the body, which when elevated. may suggest infection or irritation of the liver. With the benefit of the most recent scientific information, the American Red Cross has implemented new, more specific tests to detect infections. Therefore, we no longer need to test donors for ALT. Donors previously deferred for an ALT elevation may return and attempt to donate blood again.
This means on 8/29/2004, your name will be removed from the list of deferred donors that we are required to maintain. You will then be eligible to attempt to donate blood or apheresis, and I welcome you to do so. And if you think we're happy to welcome you back as a potential blood or apheresis donor, listen to the words of some of these blood recipients and their grateful family members:
"A here to me is the person who donated blood ... so I can have the transfusion I need to stay alive today." - Blood recipient
""If I met you I'd give you a big hug." - 4-year old blood recipient
"Without blood from individuals so willing to donate, no medical treatment in the world could have saved my son's life. Thank you." - Mother of blood recipient
Please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543) to schedule and appointment to donate blood or if you have any questions. You will need to meet all the donor eligibility criteria on the day that you donate as usual. Once again, thank you ... and welcome back!
Sincerely,
Chief Executive Officer/Designee
P.S. Remember, someone in this country needs blood every two seconds. Please don't hesitate to call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543) and make an appointment to help save as many as three of those lives by donating blood.
Some of you won't be surprised. ;)
Take a couple of Tylenol, for example, a couple of days before you donate, and it can affect these levels adversely...
Any one know the current restrictions for donation? Rumor has it that if you were in the Military in Europe during the '80s they will not accept you as a donor.
True??
I am blackballed but not for that. I can't donate because a few months ago the blood I donated showed Hep C abs in the screening,further testing of my blood showed that it was a false positive.However I must now wait 6 months to be retested by my Doctor before I will be removed from the list.Bummer.
so do I. :: snorting and scratching the ground ::
we lived in Germany from 76-80 and when I went to give blood about a year ago, they said I couldn't because of the Mad Cow thing; We might have had tainted beef at our commissaries.
LOL. Me, too. Pithy way to put it :)
Another one here!! (Family stationed in Germany 82-85)
Call your local Red Cross chapter. There are certain European countries on the list. I don't know which ones off hand.
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