Some 350 to 400 citizens donate platelets each year to the Institute of Transfusion Medicine. The platelets are later used for cancer treatment of children.
This practice is less familiar that blood donation (which far more massive), but is open for all potential donors who would like to help patients.
“Platelet donation is necessary for children treated at the oncology sector of the Pediatric Clinic, in order to decrease their sensibility. Those who want to donate platelets need to come to the Institute a day early, to undergo all necessary analysis and determine whether the donor is compatible, healthy etc. The procedure is completely painless, but longer – around an hour. The donor is connected to machine which only extracts the platelets (thrombocytes) from the blood. I cannot even describe how happy donors are to be able to help children. We have a registry of platelet donors,” said Emilija Velkova, head of the Institute of Transfusion Medicine.
Annually, there are around 100 children treated for cancer in Macedonia. According to Butterfly, the cancer and leukemia fighting association for children, the Oncology ward of the Pediatric Clinic treats around 20 patients at a time. The main thing is, these children are at pre-school and school ages. The youngest patient of Butterfly is a newborn whose cancer has not been diagnosed during the pregnancy screenings.
“When sick children receive chemotherapy the level thrombocytes drops dramatically. Thrombocyte supplies are constantly needed and donating them is very humane and is an act to be saluted,” said Natasa Maslesa, president of Butterfly Association.
According to Maslesa, children-patients can suffer from all types of cancer, but leukemia is most common. In Macedonia, leukemia has some 70 percent curability, which is similar to Europe.