Who Need Blood
EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY, SOMEONE IN CANADA NEEDS BLOOD
That someone could be a loved one, a friend, a co-worker or even you.
In Canada, roughly 137,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year. We all know that cancer patients often need blood or blood products to survive their treatments.
The number of transplants has increased steadily from 16 per one million Canadians in 1981 to 59 per one million Canadians in 2000. This includes kidney, liver, pancreas, heart, lung and bowel transplants all of which are lengthy procedures requiring significant amounts of blood.
The number of total hip replacements done in Canada during the same period increased by just under 20 per cent.
As you can see, the need for blood and blood products is rapidly rising and we need to increase the percentage of eligible Canadians who donate blood.
Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is responsible for recruiting blood and bone marrow donors as well as collecting blood, plasma, and platelets. CBS collects whole blood. Whole blood is comprised of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Some donations are held and transfused as whole blood, others are processed to separate red blood cells and plasma.
All whole blood donations undergo leukoreduction, a process whereby white blood cells are removed. White blood cells often carry viruses and bacteria that can be detrimental to the recovery of the recipient.