Ray D'Arcy will join platelet donors and cancer survivors today to announce the first ever official Platelet Donation Awareness Day campaign today.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has organised the day to highlight their plea for blood platelet donors, after announcing that demand for the blood product has risen by 50 per cent over the past five years.
Platelets, a component of blood, made in the bone marrow cells, are essential to enable the blood to clot properly. Chemotherapy often damages the patients' bone marrow cells where the platelets are made.
Cancer patients, especially those with leukaemia, lymphoma or cancer of the bone marrow, often depend on platelet transfusions during their chemotherapy or bone marrow transplants in order for them to tolerate and benefit from their treatment.
Speaking in advance of the Platelet Donation Awareness Day, Paddy Bowler, Director of Operations, IBTS said the rise in demand for platelet donations is largely due to the number of new cases of cancer and the number of people undergoing chemotherapy.
"It is estimated that 22,500 new cases of all types of cancer will be diagnosed in Ireland in 2007. The IBTS needs at least 22,000 donations of platelets per year in order to meet this demand. On average the IBTS issues approximately 90 units of platelets per day (over 500 units per week) to Irish hospitals and 90 per cent of these are used in the treatment of cancer patients," he said.
For further information on becoming a platelet donor text 'Platelet' to 53377, email ann.o'leary@ibts.ie or telephone 01 432 2833.