86-year-old Cleveland man stops in Red Cross Romeoville office as part of his U.S platelet donation tour

The Romeoville office of the Red Cross’ Illinois River Valley Chapter had a guest platelet donor on Tuesday: an 86-year-old Cleveland man who’s taking his third trek across the U.S. to encourage more people to donate.

“This stop will be No. 11,” Al Whitney said and later added, “I hope I am making a difference. If it’s just one life, it’s worth it.”

Whitney said he started donating blood in 1965 and then switched to donating platelets in the late 1960s or early 1970s. he said. He also held regular blood drives from 1965 to 2000. He’s still donating platelets.

In 2007, Whitney decided to donate platelets in every U.S. state to raise awareness. Whitney called his mission “Platelets Across America” and he completed his goal in five years.

“To be honest, someone who has made a commitment to give platelets the way he has is extraordinarily inspirational,” Brian McDaniel, executive director of the Illinois River Valley chapter said. “I hope a lot of people take it seriously.”

McDaniel said that, while the Red Cross has always collected platelets, platelet collecting wasn’t happening in the Chicago are until recently, which was a “huge miss,” since Chicago is the third largest city in the U.S.

So the Red Cross started collecting platelets at its Chicago office approximately four years ago, McDaniel said. That was so successful, the Red Cross expanded its platelet collection to the suburbs and is “on pace” to open two fixed locations: in Schaumburg and in Orland Park, McDaniel said.

“Platelets are extremely important for cancer therapies and a lot of rare diseases,” McDaniel said. “Platelets have a shorter shelf life than whole blood. So it’s very, very imperative we collect seven days a week, overall, for platelets.”

The Romeoville office is a temporary donation site and donations are going “very, very well,” McDaniel said. The office collects platelet donations on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays and appointments have been solidly booked for “at least” two months, McDaniel said.

“It’s a great opportunity to expand the mission,” McDaniel said. “I’m really, really proud of all the work we’re doing here. It’s been an incredible program, to say the least.”

‘Al, you can do more than this’

Whitney initially had no lofty reasons for donating. He said he’s never received blood and neither has anyone in his family.

“In 1965, I was in downtown Cleveland and this building had a sign on it that said, ‘Donate blood.’ So I went inside and donated. Big deal,” Whitney said. “I walked out and I’m waiting for the traffic light to change. And I heard, ‘Al, you can do more than this.’ And there was nobody around me. And I thought, ‘What the heck can I do?’”

What he did was contact the Lorain County Blood Bank, now the LifeShare Community Blood Services, and asked how he might run a blood drive with the bank’s support.

Soon Whitney was running blood drives at his church every eight weeks, even as Whitney himself continued regularly donating blood before switching to donating platelets by the early 1970s, he said.

In 1985, Whitney stepped up his efforts. He started hosting blood drives every Saturday and every eight weeks on a Monday for a total of 56 blood drives a year, he said.

Whitney retired from hosting drives in 2000. But in that final year, he collected 2,069 units of blood for LifeShare Community Blood Services, he said. This was 69 units more than the goal of 2,000, in honor of Y2K, he said.

“I continued donating platelets on a regular basis,” Whitney said. “Then I’m lying in bed one day and I thought, ‘Al, you can do more than this.’ So I decided to donate in every state. And it took me five years my first time around. Then one day I thought, ‘Al, why don’t you do it again?’ So I did. I completed those and I’m on my third trip around.”

To say Whitney is dedicated to the cause of blood and platelet donation misses the point, he feels.

“I teach people you’re not donating blood and you’re not donating platelets. What you’re donating is life,” Whitney said. “And that blood and platelets and plasma is carrying life to the patient. A father is going to be able to walk his daughter down the aisle. A mother is going to see her son graduate from college. That young couple is going to take their baby home from the hospital., Because somebody put their arm out and said, ‘Hey, I want to give somebody life.”

If that’s not enough motivation, Whitney wants people to know donating might save their own lives – and not because they, too, might need blood one day.

Whitney said he knows three men who saved their lives by donating blood. Each man received a call from the blood bank that said, “We found this in your blood. Go to your doctor today,” Whitney said.

“Now each donor had a different problem. But it was the exact same story,” Whitney said. “They went to the doctor. The doctor confirmed they had what the blood bank said. And the doctor said, ‘This can be cured. Had you not donated blood, I would not have found this until it was terminal.’ You can save your own life by donating blood.”

To donate financially, donate blood or volunteer, visit redcross.org.

For more information on “Platelets Across America,” visit plateletsacrossamerica.com.