PC and donating blood

Is there a health reason why we can't donate blood?

I guess this Donor Questionnaire section pretty well spells it out, but I still can't find a medical reason why that is:

11. Have you ever had:

a) yellow jaundice (other than at birth) or hepatitis? ................................................................................................................

b) epilepsy, coma, stroke or fainting? .....................................................................................................................................

c) cancer, diabetes or Crohn’s disease? ................................................................................................................................

d) heart, kidney, lung or blood problems? ...............................................................................................................................

e) Chagas’ disease, babesiosis or leishmaniasis? ..................................................................................................................

Short version... is that two local blood places had five year restrictions...The Red Cross had less restrictions... I did a ton of emails with all three and the two local places were very happy about Red Cross since they apparently set the standard...

Anyway, I'm now able to give to Carter Blood Care and have done so...

I never will have to worry about PCa as an issue - I lived a few months in the UK during the height of the mad-cow problems. That is a lifetime disqualification for all donation agencies.

They have to be more than perfect and over-protective of the blood supply, lest someone actually discover that cancer can be blood-borne. What we don't know about PCa is more dangerous than what we do.

I donate here. The local organization here is United Blood Services. They only care about the past year, as far as prostate cancer goes. They want to know about when my last treatment was, and if I have any sign of cancer. That's about it.

I was told no way I could donate if there was a chance cancer cells were circulating in my bloodstream.

Mal.

Red Cross->Eligibility Criteria by Alphabetical Listing
www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements/eligibility-criteria-alphabetical-listing

Cancer
Eligibility depends on the type of cancer and treatment history. If you had leukemia or lymphoma, including Hodgkin’s Disease and other cancers of the blood, you are not eligible to donate. Other types of cancer are acceptable if the cancer has been treated successfully and it has been more than 12 months since treatment was completed and there has been no cancer recurrence in this time. Lower risk in-situ cancers including squamous or basal cell cancers of the skin that have been completely removed do not require a 12 month waiting period.

Precancerous conditions of the uterine cervix do not disqualify you from donation if the abnormality has been treated successfully. You should discuss your particular situation with the health historian at the time of donation.

The Red Cross will take your blood.

Find a donation opportunity near you
www.redcrossblood.org/make-donation

What I find most ironic is that us PCa survivors who have <.01 PSA levels proving that we have not one iota of cancer still cannot donate (except maybe Red Cross and some others) while 1 out of 6 men who might have un-diagnosed PCa and don't know it are able to donate blood all they want (until they are finally flagged,tagged and bagged some day in the future). I wonder if the Blood Donor orgs do a PSA test on men's blood and eliminate if, say, freePSA is at a certain level?

J

This is a timely post, I've been thinking about donating blood since my surgery. Just yesterday I decided it was time to get off my ass and do something about it so I checked out when the next clinic would be in our town. It hadn't occured to me that PC would be an issue, that sucks.

I almost bled to death during surgery, and would really like to pay some of it back. I was given 12 units of blood, 5 of plasma and 4 of platelets. I went into a rare condition called disseminated intravascular coagulation where the body produces tiny clots throughout the blood stream which consumes all of the platelets. After that you bleed freely. The surgery ended up taking 5 hours as they spent a lot of time just trying to stop the bleeding. Fortunately they were able to complete the surgery.

A couple of months later they tested my blood for everything and it looked good. The blood specialist said that they don't always know why it happens but it was most likely a one time event. She said that I may have had a virus or something that triggered it but they don't really know.

 

Here is the American Cancer Society explanation of blood donation rules and cancer survivors:

"While cancer has very rarely been transmitted through transplants of solid organs such as kidneys, there have been no reports of cancer transmission by blood transfusion. To check this, a group of researchers looked back in time at people who had received blood from donors who had developed cancer within 5 years of giving the blood. They found no increased cancer risk in those who got blood from those who were found to have cancer soon after donating.

This would suggest that the chance of getting cancer from a blood donor with cancer is extremely small, if it exists at all. Even if cancer cells were present in donated blood, the immune system of the person getting the blood would destroy the cells. A possible exception might be in transfusion recipients with weakened immune systems, who might not be able to fight off the cancer cells. Because of this slight possibility, people whose cancer is thought to be growing or spreading are not allowed to donate blood for other people."

Source: "Blood donation by cancer survivors" bit.ly/9hSntS

In my mind, the potential good outweighs the potential damage, but I can understand how others could read the same material and reach a different conclusion.