Aided by technician Donald Marks, Al Whitney (L) made Mass. his 11th platelet donation state

Platelet-providing traveler makes stop at DFCI.

Some people criss-cross the country visiting museums or ballparks. Al Whitney prefers more unique destinations: blood donor centers.

On Friday morning, Whitney settled into a chair in Dana-Farber's Kraft Family Blood Donor Center to give platelets. It's a process the 70-year old retired factory worker from Ohio is quite familiar with; as of Friday he's donated 603 platelet units. Massachusetts marks the 11th state he's visited since October as part of his one-man "Platelets Across America" campaign.

His goal is simple – to raise awareness about the necessity cancer patients have for platelet donations. Platelets are the disc-shaped clotting agents of the blood, and are essential to cancer patients, recipients of organ transplants, and trauma victims whose own blood supply is severely depleted during treatment.

The painless process takes around 90 minutes, during which time the donor can relax reading a book or watching TV as a device known as a Trima machine quietly spins to separate out the platelets and then return other blood components back into his or her body (a procedure known as apheresis).

"People ask what keeps me going, and I tell them, 'Just walk through a cancer ward, then come back and ask me again,'" said Whitney, who is organizing and funding his journey himself. "I have not had cancer in my own family, but so many people need help, the least I can do is give my share and spread the word."

Although he easily cracked jokes with the nurses and technicians who kept him company on Friday, Whitney said he has no time for fun when he travels from his home outside Cleveland to each new state on his list. Whenever he's not actually giving platelets, he's discussing them with whoever will listen. "I once recruited a woman sitting right next to me in the waiting room to go in and give platelets," he recalled.

Give now, party later

The effort to increase awareness is certainly appreciated by Kraft Center staff. Despite nearly setting a record with 451 platelet donations during May, they are always seeking more donors to visit their comfortable quarters on the second floor of the Jimmy Fund building. June is Employee Donor Month at the center, and all DFCI staff who make a platelet donation receive a $5 cafeteria coupon. The department with the most donors during the month will also win a pizza party for all its donors. In addition, the Kraft Center and its Joint Program in Transfusion Medicine partner, the Brigham and Women's Hospital Blood Donor Center (which handles whole blood donations) will be celebrating World Blood Donor Day (on June 14) all this week by giving out T-shirts and cafeteria vouchers to those signing up. Future incentives being considered for donors include coupons to the Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, and the bowling/billiards complex Jillian's Boston.