An Army of Normal Folks - An Army of Normal Blood Donors

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

For "Shop Talk", we share Army member John Norman's powerful note about donating blood. And a lot more of us need to be doing it. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney, Shop Talk number 40. Welcome in the shop. 40, that's a milestone, isn't it? Yeah, I'm not even 40 yet, Bill. Shop Talk number 40, welcome in the shop. John Norman, a member of the army, send us this. I'm so inspired to be part of well, first of all, this is really cool about john. He said I'm so inspired to be part of your normal army, but he put why in parentheses to make it your normal army. But if you back off the why, it's our normal army. John, we will plagiarize

that. I love it. So I'm so inspired to be part of your or your slash our normal army. I'm nothing but normal. My and so many others superpower is to donate my time and my platelets, blood products in general. Blood and platelets cannot be created in a lab. The only way to acquire them is through voluntary donations. Blood can be frozen, but platelets only last five days. I started donating platelets because a dear friend who needed platelets to survive childhood leukemia and have not stopped since.

I donated every other week and so do many others because I, we want to be that difference and to save lives. Not sure if this is a shop talk topic or something bigger, but I wanted to reach out to you because I feel like it fits exactly your movement. I'd love to help give a shout out to those normal folks who donate their time and life to save others who they don't even know. John Norman, we're gonna dive into some specifics about this and why your note hit home and is really important right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.

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My and so many other superpowers to donate my time and my platelets in general. John Norman has a call for us to donate blood and platelets because that little bit of extra time and that gift saves lives for people you don't even know. So here's some work that Alex did for us. Why are platelets so important? Platelets are tiny cells in your blood that form clots to stop bleeding. cells in your blood that form clots to stop bleeding. For millions of Americans, they are essential to surviving and fighting cancer, chronic disease and traumatic injuries. Every 15 seconds, somebody in our country needs platelets. Platelets must be used within 5 days and new donors are needed every day.

That's why platelets are so important. Guys, when you give your blood, it can be stored. Platelets cannot be stored. They're literally only good for five days. And every 15 seconds, there's somebody in our country needing platelets. Could you be next? What if you go to the, what if get an erect a day and go to hospital need platelets and they're not there? You're dead. So by giving platelets, you're paying forward what you very well might need yourself one day. Every two seconds someone in the US needs blood and or platelets every two seconds approximately 29,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day in the United States. What's a unit? Is it it?

It's about a pint. You know, I don't know. I think I think a unit's close to a pint maybe a court I don't know what a unit is. It's not a gallon it's close to a pint, maybe a quart. I don't know what a unit is. It's not a gallon, but it's a... Thanks for putting me on the spot, Bill. We should be experts doing this show, but I failed. Nice research. Whatever. Approximately 20 odd units of red blood cells are needed every day in the US. I know this, like when Max got hurt, I'm almost sure the doctor told me he had about seven and a half units of blood in his entire body. And when he got hurt, when his spleen ruptured, he lost five units.

That's why I'm almost glad. Well, further down here, you'll see Bill, one of the bullets is a single car accident victim can require as many as a hundred units of blood. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Okay, nearly 5,000 units of platelets and 6,500 units of plasma are needed daily. Plasma is the liquid portion of blood. Plasma is what they give to folks who've suffered immediate trauma and burn and people who've

been shocked. It's bad stuff. Sickle cell disease affects 90 to 100,000 people in the US. About a thousand babies are born with the disease each year. Sickle cell patients can require blood transfusion throughout their lives. The average red blood cell transfusion is approximately three units. As Alex said, a single car accident victim can retire as many as a hundred units of blood. My own son, when he got hit in a football game and went to the hospital thinking it was a broken rib and ended up coding because he was bleeding out internally because his spleen had actually ruptured. He needed like I think 16 or 17 units of blood to save his life. Blood and platelets cannot be

manufactured. They can only come from volunteer donors. That's very important. We can make hip replacements. We can even make artificial organs these days. But science does not make blood. The human body does. Science cannot make platelets. Only the human body does. They can't be manufactured. So all this blood and all this plasma and all the platelets that we need every two and 15 seconds every single day across the world to save the lives of your friends and your loved ones and your family can only come from a volunteer. The blood type most often requested by hospitals is type O. One donation can help save more than one life. According to American Cancer Society, more than 1.9

million people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year. Many of them will need blood sometimes daily during their chemo treatment. The Red Cross provides 40% of our nation's blood and blood components all from generous volunteer donors that are just like John Norman. But the Red Cross simply cannot always meet the demands because only about 3% of age-eligible people donate blood every year. Each new donor helps the Red Cross meet patient needs. Each year an estimated 6.8 million people in the US donate blood. About 45% of people in the US have group O, positive or negative blood.

Type O negative red cells can be given to patients of all blood types because only 7% of people in the US are type O negative. It's always in great demand and often in short supply. Type AB plasma can be transferred to patients of all blood types. Since only 4% of the people in US have AB blood, this plasma is usually in short supply. Red blood cells must be used within 42 days or less. Platelets must be used within 5 days. That's a lot of stuff. But what all that says is this, that the one that gets me the most supply can't always meet demand because only about 3% of age eligible people donate blood every year. Guys, 3% pretty much everybody listening to me will personally or have someone very close to you need blood or plasma in your lifetime. You're gonna you're gonna be

sick you're gonna be in a hospital. Someone you love is going to be sick or going to be in a hospital. God forbid they have a traumatic accident like a car wreck or something like that. But you don't even have to be in an accident. You can have cancer, you can have a sickness. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital that we sit here and talk about all the time that we've highlighted people in the show, from the show show a Place that I think is one of the most amazing places on face of the planet that treat Childhood cancer that nobody else across the world can treat and they bring people here from all over the world Kids children here from literally all over the world

To treat cancer that doctors from where they're from don't even have the first clue how to treat and they do it for no dollars for free Um They're begging people to give blood every day Because they've got to have platelets and blood to treat these kids with cancer. There are cancer hospitals in every city across this country So when 100% of us are personally we're going to have someone very close to us as a loved one need plasma and blood At some point during their life, but only 3% of us will take an hour out of a day to go give a little blood That is a microcosm of what's wrong with our country today Too few doing too much. It is why we need an army

Not not a few doing everything for everybody But an army of normal folks an army of normal blood donors an army of normal blood donors Seriously guys, we talk about it all the time What would this country look like if we had this army of normal folks seeing areas of need and filling it? And you don't always have to be some part of a big NGO or anything else to make a profound difference in your community. John Norman is awesome because he makes such a good point here. He said I am nothing but normal but I have a superpower. My superpower is to take a little bit of my time and donate my platelets or my blood because of all the research that you just heard. John

Norman has a superpower. He's just a normal guy and he has a superpower and one of the things about John That's super is he is one of three percent And if you're listening to me and you haven't ever given blood in your life You're one of the 97 percent who's gonna need it one day or somebody in your life. That's close to you is gonna need it one day What if the three percent quick given? Good grief I am going to give blood or platelets this month because of this letter. I'm gonna go down to St. Jude and do it. They'll take me. I know they will. They do it. They do it. John, you've inspired me because I'm one of the 97%. I don't give blood and I'm gonna

start doing it because of you because it is so simple and so true and my son's life was spared because of units of blood that somebody gave and I feel like an butthole for not having given just on the basis of that. Thank you for the reminder. Those of you listen to me who don't give blood or platelets, shame on us. We're going to need them. We need to give them. So John Norman, you are the man. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Alex, thanks for doing the research to point out how important it is. And, um,

and John, uh, thanks for, uh, for helping us to understand the importance. 3% Alex. Do you get blood? No, I need to. I mean, I actually hate needles. I've gotten a little bit better about it, but still, it's no excuse. I mean, I'm not a little kid. You can put up with it to save someone's life.

I bet you won't hate the needle when it's going in your arm to save your life with the back of the pot on the other end. It's not a good enough excuse. Yeah. I'm going to, I swear to you, I'm going to get Lisa and we're going to get blood. Lisa hates needles too.

Little blood date? Why not? Little blood date. Why not? Little blood date. Maybe on Valentine's day, we'll go give blood. That would be a great way to show, to spend time with your loved one, showing love. I don't know. I'm giving blood. This is a wake up call and it's true. And those of you listen to me if you're

part of the 97% who take blood but don't give it just consider what hypocrites you are. I'm one of them too so I'm going to start giving blood. John thank you that's that's an awesome letter and awesome reminder. Alex thanks for the. And here's a call to everybody. You don't have to be part of anything to simply take a little bit of time and go get blood and platelets because you yourself probably need them one day. And how how how wrong is it to take from a bank that you are unwilling to put any deposit into. Okay, guys, if you have any ideas for shop talks, please mail me anytime at bill at normalfolks.us. Y'all, if you like this stuff, please rate and review it. Share us on social. Let people

know about us. Help us grow this Army. Anything that you can do. The more folks we have listening, the more impact we have. Alex, anything else? Sign up to join the Army at NormalFolks.us. Sign up to join the Army at NormalFolks.us. Thanks to our producer, Ironlight Labs. That's Shop Talk Number 40. We'll see you next week. and so many other fascinating people, like writer and actor Dan Aykroyd. I love writing more than anything. You're left alone. You know, you do three hours in the morning, you write.

Three hours in the afternoon, go pick up a kid from school and write at night. And after nine hours, you come out with seven pages and then you're moving on. Listen to Here's the Thing on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if you ask two different people the same set of questions?

Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Minnie Driver and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast and now, Minnie Questions is returning for another season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions, including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe, and Cord Jefferson. Listen to Mini Questions on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven questions, limitless answers.

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Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at SoundItOutTogether.org. That's SoundItOutTogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal.