Capstone Research

So I've acquired a lot of information during my research process and also gained a information from INOVA blood services when I went to give blood last week. My contact gave me several pamphlets with important information regarding blood types, who you can donate blood to and who you can receive blood from. I learned that 3.4% of America's population has my blood type which is AB+. I also learned that unlike being able to donate whole blood at 16 years of age, you have to be 17 to donate blood platelets as I do. As I had mentioned before in earlier blogs, my whole blood is pretty much no good to donate because my AB+ blood type can only be received by other AB+ blood types. Since there's only 3.4% of AB+ types in the country it's not needed. My platelets on the other hand are in high demand. Blood platelets are what causes the blood to clot when someone is bleeding. Thousands of people in this country have what is called hemophilia which is a blood disorder where the blood does not clot properly or at all. Receiving blood platelet donations helps ease this disorder. The reason it's so important for AB+ to donate blood platelets is because they are what as known as a universal donor. So my blood platelets can be received by all blood types, which make my platelets extremely valuable. I'm continuously gathering new information and have also begun my blood website that I've created through godaddy.com. Stay tuned....