#200

According to the New York Blood Center records, I made my first donation in 1982. It was at a blood drive at work. Warner Communications held them twice a year and I became a strong proponent of donating. Though DC Comics was a very small part of the WC empire, we represented a disproportionally large percentage -- sometimes 25% -- of the total donors. One time I even got a print salesman who was taking me to lunch to come and donate a pint first. It gave him a story to tell for years, how I not only wanted excellent printing and good pricing, but that I also wanted blood.

In the mid-'80s I started to supplement my twice-yearly blood drive donations by visiting the nearby Blood Center. It was at the Center that I met Joe, an appointment coordinator who would actively recruit whole blood donors to try doing apheresis -- platelet donation. And so, on May 25, 1991, I made my first one.

This morning, I completed platelet donation #200. In the five hundred or so hours I've spent donating,  I've watched a lot of episodes of TV sitcom reruns on TBS; for awhile, it seemed that the same episode of "My Name is Earl" was on every time I donated. I've made the acquaintance of many blood center staff members, as well as numerous fellow donors, both long-timers and newcomers.  I have also eaten a lot of Lorna Doones for breakfast.

And, presumably, helped a whole lot of people I've never met...

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If you are already a donor, great! If you aren't (and only 2% of eligible people actually donate, so there are a lot of you out there), please consider becoming one. Contact your local blood center or the American Red Cross.