It takes about two hours every time for Orin Albrecht donates platelets, the small blood cells that form clots, prevent bleeding and are always in demand for people fighting cancer or chronic diseases or recovering from injuries.
Albrecht made his first donation 25 years ago. On Sept. 11, he reached a remarkable milestone: making the 400th donation of his lifetime at the Vitalant donation center in Naperville.
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Even though platelets can be given more frequently than blood — up to 24 times per year vs. about six times for blood — few people ever get to the number achieved by Albrecht, a 53-year-old Aurora resident.
“I asked Vitalant how many they’ve had reach this level. (Donation center supervisor Laura Varsek) told me maybe one or two in Chicago got to 500, but it is rare,” Albrecht said.
It was definitely the highest number recorded at the Naperville center, Varsek said. “For us, you don’t see (donation numbers) get this high that often,” she said.
Martine Williams, a regional director for Vitalant, said platelets are always in demand because they have a shelf life of just five days.
And this year the demand was higher than normal because hospitals resumed doing elective surgeries after most were delayed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
“We are very grateful and appreciative in what he has done with helping our platelet inventory level,” Williams said.
Albrecht said when he made the switch to platelets, “it just kind of stuck. I value being there to help people and save lives.”
Vitalant decided to recognize Albrecht’s landmark accomplishment by decorating the Naperville center with a “Star Wars” theme.
“He’s a big ‘Star Wars’ fan, my staff are also big ‘Star Wars’ fans,” Varsek said. “We don’t usually do themes, but we did (for this) given it was our first 400 at the Naperville site.”
Albrecht planned to hit 400 a few days after Sept. 11 but when both he and the center realized the milestone would fall around the same time as the 20th anniversary, he moved his donation day to the 11th.
In fact, 9/11 played a big role in why he gives platelets, Albrecht said.
In the days after the terrorist attacks, Albrecht joined countless others in wanting to donate blood. But when he was rejected because his iron level was too low at the time, he decided he didn’t want changes in his iron dictate when he could and couldn’t donate so switched to platelets, he said.
Albrecht donates about once every two weeks, coming in mostly on Saturdays, he said. It’s a little easier for him because he works from home, he said, but he would have found a way to come in even if he had to work around schedule interferences.
His goal is to keep giving platelets until he is physically unable to anymore, he said.
Albrecht recalled a conversation he had with a woman years ago at Six Flags Great America, when he was at the Gurnee theme park as a blood/platelet donor representative.
The woman told him her child had benefited from platelets someone had donated, something she seemed not to have considered until that moment, he said.
“‘My gosh, donors like you helped save my daughter’s life,'” she said.