A Dedicated Donor: Mr. Upton Bonner

What does it take to save someone’s life? For Upton Bonner, it is a 127-mile one-way trip from Port Hope to Flint every two weeks! Upton donates platelets – the particles in blood that aid in clotting.  

Hospitals have a great demand for platelets. Patients with serious diseases such as cancer and anemia need platelets to survive. Blood donors can donate just their platelets through a process called Apheresis. This involves drawing whole blood from the arm of a volunteer donor, removing the platelets through a high-tech spinning process and then returning the red cells and plasma to the donor through the opposite arm.

Upton Bonner has been donating his platelets for over 20 years while living in Pennsylvania and Maryland. After the Flint Apheresis center opened, Upton has been a regular donor, making the long trip as often as he can.

"It’s very important," Upton said. "It’s different than just giving money, it’s giving part of yourself to save a life."

Platelet donations through Apheresis are as safe and painless as a whole blood donation. The process takes a little longer than whole blood donation (up to two hours) since it takes extra time to separate and collect platelets from the other components of the blood.

Platelets can be donated just three days after the original donation – up to 24 times a year. Platelet donations are by appointment only. 

The Flint Apheresis Center is open:

Fridays from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Mondays from 12 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. 

Call 1-800-968-4283 ext. 393 for more information.

The Flint Apheresis center is only the second Red Cross platelet collection center outside the metro-Detroit area. The center provides platelets to Hurley Medical Center, McLaren Regional Medical Center and Genesys Health Systems as well as to several community hospitals in the thumb of Michigan.