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Donating platelets twice a month, Rick Mathauser celebrated his 200th donation with nurses and vo

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As the blood slowly dripped out of his arm, Rick Mathauser lay comfortably and received congratulations from nurses who considered him a hero.

The needle in his arm drew blood and filtered out platelets, and for Mathauser, donating his platelets was a common occurrence. But to all the nurses, employees, and volunteers of the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center Mathauser’s 200th donation was completely out of the ordinary.

His first platelet donation occurred 10 years ago and seemingly by accident.

“One day I called one of my customers to set up a time to meet. I wanted to meet the next day, but he said he couldn’t because he was donating platelets. Back then, I didn’t even know what platelets were,” Mathauser said.

Platelets are minute yellowish cells found within one’s blood and can be used to treat a variety of illnesses which call for the clotting of the blood.

“Patients with cancer, leukemia, transplant patients and patients with blood disorders benefit from platelet donations. Many times during chemotherapy and radiation treatment both cancer cells and healthy cells are destroyed, so patients need platelet transfusions to prevent bleeding,” according to the UCLA Healthcare Web site.

After speaking to his customer and friend, Mathauser realized that the platelet donation was going to a 13-year-old boy whose father Mathauser suprisingly knew. The next day he followed along and donated platelets for the first time.

“Back then, it was a two-needle process,” he said and described the process by which one needle took blood out of the right arm, filtered the platelets out, and then another needle returned his blood to the left arm.

“You’re supposed to feel cold becuase the blood is leaving your body so quickly, but I don’t get cold. ... I don’t even feel the needle go in,” Mathauser said.

“It’s like panning for gold ... we take a little blood at a time, take out the stuff we need, and return the rest of the blood,” said Linda Goss, outreach and recruitment coordinator for the center of the new one-needle process.

The nurses and employees at the donation center remember Mathauser’s first donation as clearly as he does, but for a different reason – bagels.

“From his first donation, Rick brought bagels for everyone and now when the nurses smell bagels they know Rick is here. Rick equals bagels,” said Fernando Gironas, the platelet coordinator for the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center.

Many who donate say the new process, which lasts about an hour, is simple, painless, and even fun.

“Now you can watch DVDs, listen to your own CDs, and even go shopping,” Goss said of the new e-chairs that donors lay in while they donate.

The donation center just received the new e-chairs, aptly named for their connection to the internet and their entertainment options.

For Mathauser, donating platelets is one of the most important things he does, and said he can’t understand why more people don’t donate.

“I’m blown away that this room isn’t full of people ... if you could feel 10 percent of the joy I feel, you’d do it just as often,” he added. Mathauser donates as much as he can, which turns out to be every other week or 24 times a year.

“He maxes out every year and we have to tell him he can’t do it anymore ... it’s very refreshing,” Gironas said.

Ranging from needle phobias to a lack of time, there are a many reasons people refrain from donating platelets.

Mathauser counters all these excuses and is constantly recruiting people to donate, even at his daughter’s softball and soccer games.

“You think I like needles? I don’t ... I don’t like traffic lights, but I stop,” Mathauser said.

Often reflecting on the consequences and effects of his platelet donations, Mathauser remembers why he keeps coming back to the center every other week.

“The fourth or fifth time I donated something hit me ... and it draws me back,” he added.

Describing that specific moment, Mathauser recounts when he walked out of the Medical Plaza and saw people with bandanas and scarves over their heads and knew the reason why: chemotherapy.

“I knew what these people were going through. The nurses inside called me a hero, but these people are the real heroes,” Mathauser said.

The need for platelets at UCLA and across the country is paramount and the center, which collects around 100,000 units of blood a year, only supplies 60 percent of the blood for the UCLA Medical Center and Santa Monica, Goss said.

Blood and platelets that don’t come from the donation center are usually obtained from the Red Cross – a heavily-used supplier that can’t always provide doctors with the blood they need when they need it, Goss said.

“Six or seven years ago the blood bank had a lot of problems,” Goss said. At that time the donation center decided it needed to step up its mobile blood drives and recruitment activities. Now, at their new location, they are slowly getting more and more people to donate.

“My dream is that I come in one time and this place is crowded.” Mathauser said.

To donate blood and/or platelets contact Fernando Gironas at (310) 206-6187 or email gotblood@ucla.edu.