Blood Donation Helps People With Disease

When tragedies such as the attack on the World Trade Center strike, the demand for donated blood skyrockets.

While there is plenty of blood available right now, the blood supply is usually lower than needed.

Many health experts have said that a permanent fix to the donor shortage could be using blood from patients who have the genetic disorder hemochromatosis. The disorder is treated by giving blood, yet many centers around the country don't accept it.

Sandra Thomas, president and founder of the American Hemochromatosis Society in Heathrow, Fla., lost her mother to hereditary hemochromatosis two years ago.

"That was the greatest loss in my life," Thomas said.

Thomas' life is now dedicated to educating others about the disease.

The disease is excess iron in the organs and tissues. The treatment is simple -- having blood removed.

"Hemochromatosis patients are walking blood banks," Thomas said.

According to some estimates, hemochromatosis patients could possibly increase the blood supply by 3 million pints per year, or close to 25 percent of current totals.

Until 1999, blood banks didn't use hemochromatosis patients' blood as donor blood.

One concern was people's reasoning for donating.

"We want people to donate blood for the right reasons," said Galen Unold, manager of recruitment at LifeSouth Blood Center in Gainesville, Fla. "That donor, per se, has to have that therapeutic donation."

Another concern was safety, but studies show hemochromatic blood poses no greater risk than other donor blood.

Less than 3 percent of all blood collection sites now accept hemochromatic blood for donation.

Dr. Rob Pollack, director of Central Florida Blood Bank where the blood is accepted, said not only is the blood safe, "the general feeling is now is that people that need blood also need iron, so it may actually be an added benefit."

For Thomas, the growing acceptance is just one step, but she won't stop until all banks accept the blood.

"It's a win-win situation," Thomas said. "So, why aren't we doing this? That's the question we've been asking for a long time."

A study recently reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found almost 90 percent of hemochromatosis patients surveyed gave blood at centers whose policy is to not accept blood from those with the disease.

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration requires all centers that accept the blood to label it as such, and the center has to bear the cost of those patients giving blood.