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Still, many people believe that blood donated by family or friends is better.
By KATHRYN WEXLER
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 7, 2001
TAMPA -- It wasn't until Christopher Becker started bruising at the slightest touch two years ago that the preschooler was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a devastatingly aggressive cancer.
Christopher, now 7, already was in the final stage of the disease. His life became an exhausting cycle of surgeries, chemotherapy and hospital beds.
All of his parents' friends were asking the same question: What can we do to help?
Christopher will need blood transfusions, Alison and Patrick Becker told them.
Soon, 110 people were donating blood specifically for Christopher's use. The size of his blood circle was unusual, but not its existence.
Blood bank officials say nothing moves people to give blood like knowing the person in need. Directed donations, as they are called, are common across the country.
What often motivates the donors is the idea that blood drawn from family or friends is somehow safer than that taken from the public, health care professionals say.
"Wouldn't you think your friends and family are donating good blood to you?" said Bryan Scully, spokesman for Florida Blood Services.
But that, according to doctors, is a misconception.
"From a medical point of view, there's no advantage," said Dr. Jerry Barbosa, medical director of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. "From the emotional point of view, it might help."
All blood is screened for diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis, and discarded if it fails to meet national standards set by the Food and Drug Administration. That goes for directed donations, too.
"Really?" said Brett Savage, who enlisted the help of a half-dozen co-workers to donate blood for his recent hip surgery. "I figured I'd rather have blood from my family or people I know real well than a total stranger on the street," said Savage, a Tampa resident and customer service agent at American Express
During any given month, the Tampa Bay area's Florida Blood Services lists up to 40 teams of donors whose blood is earmarked for certain patients. Some teams have only one or two donors. More commonly, they have a dozen or more.
Blood banks love donors who give specifically for one person because they feed the blood supply. They tend to be first-time givers who wouldn't help an anonymous recipient, and their donations mean certain patients won't drain blood stockpiled for the community at large.
"For the patients who are chronic users, the local community blood center will recruit a group of blood donors," said Melissa McMillan, spokeswoman for America's Blood Centers, the national umbrella organization for Florida Blood Services.
But the biggest advantage for the blood bank is that directed donations often find their way to the public's use. Blood has a shelf life of 42 days. If the intended recipient doesn't use it after 35 days, the blood bank gives it to someone else.
Nationally, nearly 8-million people gave blood in 1999, the latest year for which statistics are available. The demand for blood has "gone through the roof" in recent years with more surgeries being performed, McMillan said.
But donations have climbed as well, she said, with a 5 percent increase in the past three years.
Still, blood bank officials say they are on a constant treadmill to meet the country's needs for transfusions. Aggressive advertising and appeals to large corporations for blood donations help, they say. So do directed donations.
Florida Blood Services distributes a pamphlet that states the general blood supply is "safe" and "adequate," but it also suggests directed donations: "Still, if you are scheduled for surgery which may require a blood transfusion, you may want to select the people who will donate that blood."
Directed donations do have complications. Blood banks must take the extra step of irradiating blood given from one family member to another in order to alter the blood's DNA so the recipient's body recognizes it as foreign.
There is also a higher cost associated with directed donations. Florida Blood Services puts a surcharge of $20 on each directed blood donation, and more if the blood has to be shipped out of the area. Directed platelets cost an extra $60 per donation. Those costs are generally covered by insurance, they said.
Several people contacted by the St. Petersburg Times who got transfusions from friends said they wanted directed donations because they thought blood banks pay for blood, something that would appeal to people such as drug addicts, who are more likely to suffer from disease.
Florida law prohibits blood banks from purchasing blood, Scully said.
Others said family and friends would be less likely than the public to lie on questionnaires given to all prospective donors. The form asks about health, lifestyle and travels. Such untruthfulness, they said, could result in bad blood.
But blood experts say the answers only help immediately eliminate would-be donors whose blood would fail the mandatory testing and be discarded anyway.
"We just don't want to go through the time and testing for blood we can't use," Scully said.
The supply of blood is adequate, said Ruth Zatik, vice president for technical services for Florida Blood Services.
"We've been in the blood bank business for over 60 years, and we've only asked a hospital to postpone elective surgery once," Zatik said.
Bob Dietz, who for the past two years has organized Christopher's donation team, now about 60 strong, noted that AIDS contaminated the blood supply before doctors understood the disease and figured out how to test for it.
"What is it that they can't check for now?" said Dietz, an assistant attorney general for the Attorney General's Office in Tampa, where Mrs. Becker is also an attorney.
Dietz wondered if knowing donors and a bit about their lifestyles might decrease the risk of blood-borne infections as yet undiagnosed by medical experts.
That was on the mind of Michelle Mirasola, too, when the Tampa telecommuter asked friends to donate blood for her baby's heart surgery last year.
"I got an outpouring of response," Mirasola said.
Dr. German Leparc, CEO and medical director for Florida Blood Services, dismisses the idea.
"It's a weak argument and not supported by data," Leparc said. "The new disease may be more common in swimmers, for instance. If I were to go under general anesthesia, I would be more anxious about that. Blood I'm not concerned about."
- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at (813) 226-3383.