As the blood slowly dripped out of his arm, Rick Mathauser lay
comfortably and received congratulations from nurses who considered
him a hero.
The needle in his arm drew blood and filtered out platelets, and
for Mathauser, donating his platelets was a common occurrence. But
to all the nurses, employees, and volunteers of the UCLA Blood and
Platelet Center Mathauser’s 200th donation was completely out
of the ordinary.
His first platelet donation occurred 10 years ago and seemingly
by accident.
“One day I called one of my customers to set up a time to
meet. I wanted to meet the next day, but he said he couldn’t
because he was donating platelets. Back then, I didn’t even
know what platelets were,” Mathauser said.
Platelets are minute yellowish cells found within one’s
blood and can be used to treat a variety of illnesses which call
for the clotting of the blood.
“Patients with cancer, leukemia, transplant patients and
patients with blood disorders benefit from platelet donations. Many
times during chemotherapy and radiation treatment both cancer cells
and healthy cells are destroyed, so patients need platelet
transfusions to prevent bleeding,” according to the UCLA
Healthcare Web site.
After speaking to his customer and friend, Mathauser realized
that the platelet donation was going to a 13-year-old boy whose
father Mathauser suprisingly knew. The next day he followed along
and donated platelets for the first time.
“Back then, it was a two-needle process,” he said
and described the process by which one needle took blood out of the
right arm, filtered the platelets out, and then another needle
returned his blood to the left arm.
“You’re supposed to feel cold becuase the blood is
leaving your body so quickly, but I don’t get cold. … I
don’t even feel the needle go in,” Mathauser said.
“It’s like panning for gold … we take a little
blood at a time, take out the stuff we need, and return the rest of
the blood,” said Linda Goss, outreach and recruitment
coordinator for the center of the new one-needle process.
The nurses and employees at the donation center remember
Mathauser’s first donation as clearly as he does, but for a
different reason ““ bagels.
“From his first donation, Rick brought bagels for everyone
and now when the nurses smell bagels they know Rick is here. Rick
equals bagels,” said Fernando Gironas, the platelet
coordinator for the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center.
Many who donate say the new process, which lasts about an hour,
is simple, painless, and even fun.
“Now you can watch DVDs, listen to your own CDs, and even
go shopping,” Goss said of the new e-chairs that donors lay
in while they donate.
The donation center just received the new e-chairs, aptly named
for their connection to the internet and their entertainment
options.
For Mathauser, donating platelets is one of the most important
things he does, and said he can’t understand why more people
don’t donate.
“I’m blown away that this room isn’t full of
people … if you could feel 10 percent of the joy I feel,
you’d do it just as often,” he added. Mathauser donates
as much as he can, which turns out to be every other week or 24
times a year.
“He maxes out every year and we have to tell him he
can’t do it anymore … it’s very refreshing,”
Gironas said.
Ranging from needle phobias to a lack of time, there are a many
reasons people refrain from donating platelets.
Mathauser counters all these excuses and is constantly
recruiting people to donate, even at his daughter’s softball
and soccer games.
“You think I like needles? I don’t … I don’t
like traffic lights, but I stop,” Mathauser said.
Often reflecting on the consequences and effects of his platelet
donations, Mathauser remembers why he keeps coming back to the
center every other week.
“The fourth or fifth time I donated something hit me …
and it draws me back,” he added.
Describing that specific moment, Mathauser recounts when he
walked out of the Medical Plaza and saw people with bandanas and
scarves over their heads and knew the reason why: chemotherapy.
“I knew what these people were going through. The nurses
inside called me a hero, but these people are the real
heroes,” Mathauser said.
The need for platelets at UCLA and across the country is
paramount and the center, which collects around 100,000 units of
blood a year, only supplies 60 percent of the blood for the UCLA
Medical Center and Santa Monica, Goss said.
Blood and platelets that don’t come from the donation
center are usually obtained from the Red Cross ““ a
heavily-used supplier that can’t always provide doctors with
the blood they need when they need it, Goss said.
“Six or seven years ago the blood bank had a lot of
problems,” Goss said. At that time the donation center
decided it needed to step up its mobile blood drives and
recruitment activities. Now, at their new location, they are slowly
getting more and more people to donate.
“My dream is that I come in one time and this place is
crowded.” Mathauser said.
To donate blood and/or platelets contact Fernando Gironas at
(310) 206-6187 or email gotblood@ucla.edu.