Al Whitney completed his goal of donating blood in all 50 states on August 8, 2012 in Casper, Wyoming. His goal started nearly 5 years earlier on August 23, 2007 in Erie Pennsylvania. However, Mr. Whitney’s active involvement with blood banking and platelet donation began much earlier in 1965 when he started holding blood drives in his community every eight weeks. Then, in 1985 he started running weekly blood drives. He continued coordinating 56 blood drives a year until his retirement in 2000. The last year as an organizer, he helped coordinate the donation of 2069 units! While donating platelets after his retirement, he came up with the idea of “Platelets Across America” and set off to bring awareness to the need of blood and platelet donation.
I had the chance to speak with Mr. Whitney after he completed his goal, and the first thing he asked me was, "Do you donate?" Slightly embarrassed, I explained to Mr. Whitney that I suffer from a case of "white-coat-phobia", not necessarily brought on by needles, but by medical procedures in general. Mr. Whitney encouraged me to try to donate but instead of focusing on the procedure itself, he suggested I focus on the cancer patients and car accident victims that my donation would help. He explained that each donation has the potential to save three lives. It's much harder to come up with an excuse not to donate blood after speaking with Mr. Whitney!
His entire story can be found at www.plateletsacrossamerica.com.
Congratulations and thank you Al Whitney! Thank you to everyone who donates!
I had the chance to speak with Mr. Whitney after he completed his goal, and the first thing he asked me was, "Do you donate?" Slightly embarrassed, I explained to Mr. Whitney that I suffer from a case of "white-coat-phobia", not necessarily brought on by needles, but by medical procedures in general. Mr. Whitney encouraged me to try to donate but instead of focusing on the procedure itself, he suggested I focus on the cancer patients and car accident victims that my donation would help. He explained that each donation has the potential to save three lives. It's much harder to come up with an excuse not to donate blood after speaking with Mr. Whitney!
His entire story can be found at www.plateletsacrossamerica.com.
Congratulations and thank you Al Whitney! Thank you to everyone who donates!
Al Whitney
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