Area cyclists join bike ride to raise awareness of blood, organ donations

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Area cyclists join bike ride to raise awareness of blood, organ donations

By HAILEY PETWAY
Special to The Sun

Published: Friday, September 26, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, September 27, 2008 at 12:22 a.m.

On Wednesday, four local cyclists will begin a monthlong trek across the southeastern United States. More than 2,000 miles later, they will peddle through their second-to-last stop, Gainesville.

The Five Points of Life Bike Ride will raise awareness for blood, apheresis, bone marrow, organ or cord blood donations. The ride starts in Mobile, Ala., and ends in Cedar Key on Oct. 29. There will be 30 stops in six states along the way.

The ride will take them through cities including Chattanooga, Tenn., Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., where the riders will meet with donors, patients and community leaders at school assemblies, donor drives and hospital visits to tell how donations have helped them.

Organized by LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, which is headquartered in Gainesville, the ride features participants who are the recipient of or have donated blood products. Each applied and were selected from applicants all over the United States.

The local riders are Tracy Walker, Skip Choate, Bruce Stechmiller and Perry McGriff. The rest of the team consists of Richard Brinker,62, of Palatka; Rodney Ford, 47, of Brandon; Tom Colombi, 49, of Ottawa Ontario; Nancy Ireland, 47, of Denver, Colo.; Cindy Johnson, 50, of Winston-Salem, N.C.; Gary Smith, 56, of Schellsburg, Pa.; Bob Wise, 56, of Tampa; Dawn Wolf, 44, of Indianapolis, Ind.

The riders will tell their stories at events hosted by local donation organizations in each city. The events will highlight each of the five different kinds of blood products donations, and will urge people to donate.

Celebrity riders have joined the race for a day, a week or even a state in the past. Lance Armstrong rode for a day in the 1997 ride.

First-time rider Paul “Skip” Choate, 59, is a lecturer in the entomology and nematology department at the University of Florida.

Choate was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cell, seven years ago. He received a stem cell transplant in April 2001 and is still being treated. He is now a candidate for a bone marrow transplant.

Choate is riding alongside his oncologist, Dr. Bruce Stechmiller, also a first-time rider.

Choate will tell his story in each city and urge people to be tested and register as bone marrow donors.

“People are reluctant because of a natural fear of medical procedures,” he said.

Seven-time rider Perry McGriff, 70, came up with the idea for the ride in 1996. The State Farm insurance agent and state representative was cycling cross-country from San Francisco to Salt Lake City with America by Bicycle, when he met Larry Frederick, a policeman from California who was severely injured while on duty 10 years earlier.

A car traveling at 65 miles an hour hit Frederick, McGriff said, who survived after receiving 110 units of blood. Frederick and his then 13-year-old son would tell his story to each city along the way and thank people for donating blood.

McGriff was inspired by Frederick and began to envisioned a bike ride to encourage people to give blood platelets or plasma.

“About 5 percent of eligible people give,” McGriff said. “We’ve got a huge job to do.”

McGriff, a LifeSouth Community Blood Centers board member, came home from the ride and talked to the director. The director told him that he had lost his mind, McGriff remembered.

In 1997, LifeSouth started its first ride in Carlsbad, Calif.; 42 days later the team of 12 riders arrived in Gainesville.

The ride is run by corporate sponsorships, in addition to the personal fundraising efforts of each rider. The riders each try to raise $5,000. The riders do not ask for money on the ride, only for blood donations.

Platelets are used to treat leukemia, and plasma is used to help burn victims and cancer patients, McGriff said.

“People need these things every day,” he said.

Team members stressed making your wishes known if you want to be a blood or organ donor.

There are no organs or bone marrow to save lives if people do not tell their families that they want to donate, said Tracy Walker, 49, a first-time rider and a heart failure and transplant clinical coordinator for Shands at UF.

We need to inspire talk between families and inside families, Walker said. People need to know how the process works in order to alleviate misconceptions.

“I think family support is huge when it comes to donation,” she said.

Walker, who had a kidney transplant in 2000, will be riding because she wanted to give something to the cause and because it is a big part of her professional and personal life.

Because only 5 percent of eligible donors donate blood, there is always a need. And people who volunteer to donate are safer than paid donors, making volunteers even more important, Stechmiller said.

If people realized how involved they could be in saving lives, then they would be on top of donating, he said.

Stechmiller supports the ride because as a physician he witnesses the daily the importance of blood product donations.

“We couldn’t get by without it,” he said.

Blood Donation

The following are answers to frequently asked questions about blood donations from LifeSouth Community Blood Centers:

What age do you have to be to donate blood? Donors must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and not have donated blood within the last 56 days.

What credentials do I need to donate blood? You must show an official form of identification — such as a driver’s license — that includes proof of age, your signature and/or your photo.

What can I expect when donating whole blood? First, a donor technician will ask you questions relating to your medical history. A brief “mini-physical” tests your blood pressure, the iron content of your blood, your body temperature and pulse. The actual whole blood donation only lasts between four and eight minutes. Donors are asked to rest afterwards for about 10 minutes before leaving. The entire donation process takes approximately 45 minutes.

Should I eat or not eat before donating? A meal or snack within two hours prior to donating blood is strongly recommended.

Does it hurt to donate blood? There may be a little sting when the needle is inserted, but there should be no pain during the donation.

Why can’t I donate if I’ve had a tattoo? Due to the risk of infection (e.g. Hepatitis, HIV) during a tattoo application, there is a 12-month deferral period from the date you got the tattoo.

What are the different components that are taken from blood? The pint of blood you donate is separated into three components; red blood cells, plasma and platelets. If needed, two additional components may be made from a pint of blood; cryoprecipitate and white blood cells. The blood components are then stored until they are needed. Patients only receive the blood components that their body lacks. Some patients, such as cancer patients, may only need platelets. Burn patients may need plasma. Patients that have lost a great deal of blood due to trauma injuries, transplants or major surgery may require transfusions of all blood components.

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