In normal healthy persons there is a slight drop in blood count (not enough to be noticed) which returns to normal levels within 3 - 4 weeks. During this time the donor must be receiving adequate amounts of dietary iron (needed to make hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen and gives blood its red color).

Your body replenishes the fluid lost from donation within 24 hours. It may take up to two months to replace to lost Red Blood Cells.

Yes. Stem cells or marrow regenerates within a few weeks. The donation does not curtail your daily activities. You can also donate again in the future if you wish. Marrow, unlike solid organs, is a gift of life that keeps on giving.

Blood volume or plasma is replaced within 24 hours. Red cells need about 4 to 8 weeks for complete replacement.

Red Blood Cells and plasma that have been out of controlled storage temperatures more than 30 minutes cannot be stored and reissued to another patient

Blood levels will be fully replenished within four or five hours. White blood cells take 12 hours to recover and platelets take three days. Red blood cells take the longest to be replaced: two months. This is why it is important to leave a two-month gap between blood donations.

The entire process takes approximately one hour. The blood draw is done by a skilled, specially trained, medical staff-person and only takes 7 to 10 minutes. You will rest for 15 minutes after your donation while enjoying refreshments in our canteen area.

Once the donated cord blood is processed and stored at the Cord Blood Bank, it is listed on the NMDP Registry and available to patients all over the world who are searching for a match. The cord blood can be transplanted into any patient whose doctor selects the cord as a match for that patient.

On any given day, more than 6,000 patients, their families and friends around the world are searching the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry for a matching bone marrow donor or cord blood unit. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant.

If there are too many red blood cells, then the disease is called a polycythaemia or erythrocytosis (polycythaemia is not to be confused with the disease called polycythaemia vera). The word erythrocytosis refers to too many red blood cells, but this could be due to a number of reasons, not necessarily denoting disease. With so many red cells, the thickness of the blood can be increased, causing sluggish flow to organs and potentially causing blood clots.

It takes the body 24 – 48 hours to replace the plasma portion that is about 80% water and 3 – 5 weeks to replace the red cells. Donors are encouraged to drink plenty of non-alcoholic fluid before and following the donation to assist the replacement process. Also, regular and frequent donors should eat plenty of iron-containing foods (ex. meat).

Sufficient years have not passed to prove the absolute length of time; however, it is believed that stem cells can be successfully stored long term, perhaps decades, in a cryopreserved form. A recent study of cord blood at Indiana University demonstrated its viability after 15 years of cryogenic storage. Bone marrow has been stored for decades and has remained viable; there is no reason to believe that the same would not be true of cord blood.

The plasma portion of a donation is replaced within hours, the platelet portion within days and red blood cells in about 56 days. This is why blood donors cannot give more often than once every 56 days.

NO. Donation costs nothing to the donor’s family or estate. Organ and tissue donation is a gift. The family of a donor does not pay any hospital or physician fees associated with the organ and tissue donation.

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is committed to building a strong network and inventory of high-quality cord blood units available to any patient who needs a transplant. We work with expectant parents and public cord blood banks to increase the number and diversity of cord blood units available for patients. We are also committed to improving transplant results for patients. That is why we are conducting a research study on cord blood transplantation and patient outcomes.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus spread by air droplets (from coughing & sneezing), sexually, and by blood contact. In healthy persons it may cause minor flu-like symptoms, cough, sore throat and enlarged glands (resembling infectious mono), or no symptoms at all. It occurs at all ages, and by adulthood, blood tests show that about 50 percent of healthy adults have had the virus (and are now immune to it).

Identifying information is never exchanged between a cord blood donor and cord blood transplant recipient. The identity of the cord blood donor is kept confidential at the cord blood bank.

Blood you donate here at Hoag begins being processed for use by our patients as soon as you donate. You'll get the satisfaction of knowing you have directly helped another person and a free mini-medical examination including a blood pressure check. An identification card showing your blood group and Rh type will be mailed to you and you will become a member of our Gallon Club when you have given 8 blood donations.