May 27, 2025 • 40 mins
John Norman is a normal dude who made a blood platelet donation one day. When his colleague told him that donated platelets helped save her life, John decided to keep rolling with the donations. He donates every other week, which is now over 160 times!
Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premium
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
My project manager, Katrina. She and I when we would
run into a problem that we needed to solve, or
I would say, I'm going.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
For a walk.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
She and I were walking this time along the Milwaukee River.
I was telling her about my platelet donation. I said,
you know, they called me up and I went in
and I was just telling her. I thought it was
really cool that they took the blood out and grabbed
the platelets and put it back.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And she stopped.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
She looked at me, and she says, you know, if
it wasn't for blood products and platelets, I probably wouldn't
have survived childhood leukemia and I wouldn't be here. So
there right in front of me was somebody who was
a recipient of something that I have the ability to give.
And that was sort of my light bulb moment, saying,
maybe you should go back in two weeks when you're
eligible and.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Do it again. So I did, and I started.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That's kind of what started my I call it now,
I call it my grateful habit, because it's a habit.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Now, Welcome to an army of normal votes. I'm Bill Courtney.
I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,
I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach an
inner city Memphis, and the last part somehow led to
an oscar for the film they made about our football team.
It's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will never
(01:20):
be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice
suits using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN
and Fox, but rather by an army of normal phones. Guys,
that's us, just you and me deciding Hey, maybe I
can help. That's what John Norman, the voice you just heard,
(01:40):
has done. John has donated platelets over one hundred and
sixty times, which is helping to save lives while sitting
in a chair for ninety minutes, something almost all of
us can do. I can't wait for you to meet
John right after these brief messages from our general sponsors.
(02:16):
John Norman from Port Washington, Wisconsin. Where in the world
is that.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Just north of Milwaukee about fifteen to twenty miles.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Does that make you a Brewers fan and a Packers fan?
Packers fan for sure, Yeah, and a Brewers fan. I
don't watch a lot of baseball, but it's a fun game.
I got it at Bucks Basketball.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Bucks for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Bucks and six, although not the last couple of years
we just got knocked out.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, you got a superstar up there. Sounds like he's
not real happy to be up there anymore.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
They've got their things going on. I also don't pay
much attention to the Bucks unless they're unless they're winning.
I'm not a fair Weather fan. But I grew up
in Colorado and we did not at the time have
a We had a basketball we didn't have a baseball team,
so I never got into baseball right And I was
born in New Mexico and went to Alaska. No baseball
teams there either, so baseball was not a thing.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Let me throw one on you a Denver basketball Frian.
One of my favorite players was Keiky Vandaway. You remember
that name at all?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That sounds familiar.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Oh wow, he was. That was eighties he was. He
was a really good shooter. Anyway, not why you're here, John,
but thanks for thanks for flying down from Port Washington
and visiting with us. Alex, how do we find John?
You found us, I know, tell us about it. Alex
the producer will tell us how we found John.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
He emailed us one day. Yes, this email wasn't boring.
His email wasn't born, so we responded to him, think,
sure you should say it was in the email, John,
it's better coming from you.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I do remember sending this email because I'd kind of
discovered you guys, and I was donating platelets one day
and I'm like, this is pretty much a normal person
kind of thing to do, and anybody can do it,
almost anybody. So I sent you a quick email just
saying just part of your part of your army, our army.
I don't know if you remember that part, but I
put the y in parentheses and yeah, I just wanted
(04:12):
to call out that donating blood and platelets is an
important thing to do, and it's something that I thought
at the time this is just enough information for a
shop talk. Never thought i'd be called here to come
into an actual interview, but there was more that came
with it later on.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I guess, well, there's more to your story too, which
I can't wait to get into. And it's cool that
we are now organically getting a lot of our guests,
which is why I want to tell a story, because
before even start, I want to remind everybody that at
the end of all of these things, we beg folks.
To send us ideas for shop dogs, beg folks to
(04:49):
send us stories of people they know, And you're living
proof that we're serious about that. And it is just
cool that we're getting organic guests from the show who
listened to the show tell stories, and you're emblematic of that.
Something else I think you're emblematic of is that we
really want to challenge people to think beyond massive five
(05:13):
OHO one C threes and beyond huge organizations, that an
army of normal folks can exact a great measure of
change just doing what they can and their neck of
the woods, seeing their areas and need and filling them.
And John, I mean that's what you do.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be part
of that army and doing one thing at a time.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well you are.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
But first, I think I gave you the actual email,
don't I?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Bill, What's that?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Isn't the email in your prep email the email that
John sent us originally?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Well, I don't know. Maybe I think it's I don't
think it is. Really, Yeah, you didn't do your job
this time, Alex. I mean I always brag on how
good a job you do prepping me. Now I will
say that I watched the whole YouTube video. So that's
that was really nice that you spent the ten seconds
to attach that. Thank you. Okay, So John, sorry, alex
(06:10):
Is just sit in a corner. Hey, Passius, could we
get like a curtain like at the Wizard of Oz
and just pull it across his area so I don't
have to deal with him? Thanks, appreciate it. We'll install
that maybe next week. Awesome. I know that you know
you're giving back because you were I guess I'm going
(06:33):
to use a word I don't even know if it's right.
A scout master maybe, or what you were like in
charge of your So you volunteer doing stuff with your
sons and cub Scouts and boy Scouts, and that means
you're engaged with a bunch of other kids too. I
assume and absolutely all that and put a normal life.
(06:54):
And then one day your work hosted a blood drove. Yep,
what was that about? So?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I worked at a life science company at the time
in Milwaukee, and I don't know so this this company
at the time, this is the part that I was
involved in. They worked with pharmaceutical companies and helped them
with things like their helpline. If you've got a drug
and you got questions about it, you can call up
and learn more about it.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
We had people on staff there that would that were.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Trained to answer those questions and at least triage them
and if if they didn't know the answer, could send
them to somebody that knew more. And I was only
working there because it was it was an IT job
that I could do. They offered a blood drive for
the entire company. They said, We're going to bring in
a blood center Wisconsin and set up in our lobby
(07:49):
and you're welcome to take time off of your day
and donate blood. So I think this is an easy one.
It's literally right down the hall. And I had not
given blood since maybe a couple times when we were
with the boy Scouts we were at some.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Place where they offered it get blood.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Probably no I was the adult forcing our kids somebody
to get blood. I'm like, I'll go if you go.
But that was years before, and before that, maybe in
high school, I had donated once or twice. So I
went and it was took twenty minutes and I was
back at work. And a week later I got a
phone call from the blood center and They said, you know,
(08:29):
you've got a really high platelet count and your blood
type is one that we would normally lead you in
this direction. Would you consider donating platelets? And I said,
what's the difference? How you do that for question? They said, well,
it takes a little bit longer. We'll explain it to
you when you get here, just playing on a couple
hours instead of twenty minutes.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I'm like, all right, that's cool. So when can I
do this?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
How early can it because I need to come to
work afterwards. So I set up an appointment to go
into the blood center. I had to wait a while
because I had given blood and you have to wait
eight weeks after giving whole blood.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So I went in.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I set up an appointment at six o'clock in the morning,
and I walked in and I'm signing into their sheet
and one of the questions on the.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Signing sheet was have you donated before?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And I answered no, And the person behind the counter said, well,
why did you just check the noebox? I said, well,
I've never donated platelets before. This is a new thing
for me. You said you'd explain it.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
When I came from scouting, and one of the twelve
things has to be something to do with honest.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I think that was probably one of the ones I missed.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Got a boy, Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Actually I don't think honesty is in there. It's kind
of implied before.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
You drop this line. I want to divert real quick.
You're there signing in and they're like, why are you checking?
And you check. No, we'll pick up back there in
just a moment. I had a guest on that gave
me some demographics or some data, not demographics, some data
(09:56):
around blood donors, and it made Alex co give blood.
It was John that was the data was from John.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
I pulled the data online.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
You pulled the data after John's okay, so it was
you pulled the data, all right. The data, to me
is what was so opening, And we're going to get
to it because I think there's going to be some
data about the next thing we're going to talk about.
But I want to remind our listeners what that data
is and I'm going to screw it up, So correct me,
(10:34):
all right, but I'm going to go for it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
You probably know better than I do, Alex. Alex should
remember I don't feel in any details with me.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Please quite referring to the man in the corner. So
the data I think that is right is that only
three percent of the population donates blood. And okay, I
am sure there are low percentages of people in the population.
They do lots of stuff that should be done. But
(11:03):
here's where it really kind of was eye opening to me.
If you're in a car wreck and go to the yar,
you need blood. If you're a cancer patient, you need blood.
If you have any kind of surgery, you need blood.
If it's almost inconceivable that throughout life, you or someone
(11:28):
in your immediate family that you love or both will
not need blood more than one time in your life.
So here's the data that I siphon from that. One
hundred percent of every single person walking around in our
country today will need blood for themselves or someone in
(11:53):
their immediate friend, not a distant friend, their immediate family
that they love at least once and probably two or
three times before they reach death.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
One hundred and only three. So there's three out of
one hundred people in the world in the world are
supporting the entire medical community.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
And it's actually less than well, I'm gonna I'm going
to back up on that a little bit. It might
be less than that because only sixty five percent of
the population are eligible to donate. Because what if you
already had cancer, or if you've got some blood or whatever,
your your high blood pressure, got a heart condition.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Only two out of every three people hand right, and
then only three percent of who came.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I don't know if that, Yeah, it might be a
lot less either way, it's a really small number.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Right, let me move the sheet back just a second, Okay, Alex,
you can speak now. Is that data about, right? Is
the adult population is the way they that's fair absently
adult population. But still it's nothing. It's nothing. And when
Alex did the data and we were talking to you
on the shop talk and your information, I think you
(13:07):
you went and gave blood like the next week, didn't
you know?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
I mean it was almost a providence providancial thing. My
church just happened to be having a mobile you know
thing in the next week. So it's honestly, I can't
give myself too much credit. Like it literally was in
my backyard in the next week.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Really, yeah, Well it was easy, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
It was? Yeah? And I gave blood about two and
a half weeks ago because I said I was going
to deals. Yes, tell you that nice big deal. All right,
And now a few messages from our general sponsors. But first,
our next live interview in Memphis will be on June
(13:46):
twelfth with Father Mark Hannah. Father Mark and a team
of four other civilians saved over fifty lives on nine
to eleven and the rest of his team died while
trying to save more people. After nine to eleven, Mark
became a Coptic priest and hence the father title. It's
(14:08):
part of our lunch and listen series that we've been
doing at Crosstown Concourses Myphis Listening Lab, and you can
learn more at RSVP at Fathermark dot event bright dot com.
We hope to see you there. We'll be right back.
(14:37):
So first to everybody listening right now, when we talk
about being an arman, normal folks, and you can see
an area need and fill it and you don't have to,
I mean, be part of any big organization, go give blood.
It takes.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Minutes, maybe half an hour times.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
And to be honest with you, I felt great after
I gave blood, Like I don't know, I was like
lost weight or something. I know that sounds stupid, but
that's exactly how I felt.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
With blood. They take it, they don't give it back
to you.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So you're missing a paint stuff right right, and your
body feels it and your.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Body start doing more. I don't know why it feels
good afterwards, but I really feel good.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Not like maybe because I did a thing physically.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I actually felt lighter. It was weird, I.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Think, so, well, you probably felt lightheaded. I mean, you're
missing it.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I don't know what I felt, but it was great
and I'm going to continue to do it. And Alex
is too.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I think I heard somebody else on your podcast, to
your podcast that you had, the woman from Box. She
was saying that she had donated and she said it's
also kind of a health thing because you lose calories
when you're donating blood.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, there you go. So everybody listen. If you're thinking,
what can I hold it just one second? Cassius, have
you given blood? Yeah, Alice, Cassius is not giving blood.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Well he didn't hear our Shop Talk episode, so.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Well you heard it now, Alex. I mean, Cassius, what
you're going to do? Casius? Everybody, it's a challenge. This
is a twenty minute thing. And honestly, this is how
I reconcile it with me. I or someone of my
family is going to need blood. And my father in
(16:24):
laws had opened our surgery he had to have blood.
My son Max coated after a football accident. His spleen
blew up and they put seven units in him. Seven.
He bled out he'd be dead if somebody had neggaive blood.
(16:45):
How selfish would I be to be able to give
blood and people need blood and have had two very
close family members survive because of that blood, and not
retard the favor we need to give blood? So okay,
all soap box? You checked no?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I checked no, yep, I've never been here to give
plate No. Why'd you check that box? I've never been here.
So and again I'm like, you guys are going to
explain this to me when I got here. So I'm
just trying to follow the rules here too. And they're like,
but you've donated before. I said, no, I never haven't it.
Ten fifteen seconds later, my twin brother walked in the door.
(17:30):
He also had a six o'clock in the morning Friday morning,
six o'clock appointment to donate platelets that day, and he
had started a few months before I did, and probably
for the same kind of reason. I don't know if
we ever talked about. It was just kind of a
freaky twin thing that happened that day, and I thought, yeah,
I think maybe I'm supposed to be here.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
That's pretty that's very cool. And the same kind of
reason was you gave blood. They said your plate look
count was high and they looked good.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
He's got the same blood type I do.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And your blood type is only what nine percent of
the people in the world have. Your blood, that's what
I understand be positive is and so yours is pretty valuable.
And so he did it, and you do it. You
bounce into each other and you're both giving platelets. Now
that's an interesting thing. That was cool.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So it kind of freaked.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
There's actually a phlebottomus there who when we were both there,
she had she had an aversion, not an aversion, but
unconscious fear of twins.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And whenever we were there, she left.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Are you kidding? There's a phobia? There's a twin? Is
it really?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
She was? She was super nice and whenever it was
just me, no problem.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
That is so weird that some kind of vampire with
a phobia. That's weird. Okay, So let's talk about platelets,
because I didn't know anything about him until I did
a little research after knowing I was going to meet
with you. But blood can be stored. I think blood
can even be frozen, can't It not true?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I know it can be stored.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
For a fairly significant period of time. Platelets can't. And
I'll let you explain it before we go any further
so that people understand what the world platelets is and
why it takes two hours instead of twenty minutes. But
just ninth grade biology, I remember that platelets are what
(19:23):
helps your blood. I think it's coagulate. Yep. Is that right?
So why don't you just let's before we go any further,
let's talk about why platelets are different than blood, why
they're so valuable, what they do, and then what the
process is giving them in why it's different.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, so you hit the high point of platelets. Platelets
are the part of your blood that coagulate and and
heal your wounds. If you get a scratch or a cut,
that's what helps stop the bleeding at that point. And
that's because if you don't call out coagulate you just
just keep bleeding, right, So it's super important. And and
like you said, if you're in surgery, then it's blood.
(20:04):
If you are a cancer patient, you're going through chemo
or radiation, that'll knock down your blood counts but also
knock down your platelet counts and that puts you at
risk of bleeding out or having issues with that.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So platelets are so if you're if you're going through
chemo and god forbid, you get a car wreck or
something else happens where you need share of surgery. If
the chemo knocks down your platelet clown, they can't even
do the surgery on you because.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
That might be the case.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, wait out.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Or if you've got cancer and I hope I don't
say this wrong because I haven't I don't really know
all the answers to this, but if you're getting this treatment,
it'll knock your platelet counts down to the point where
they won't be able to give you other treatments because
your body can't recover. So the platelets for cancer patients
are are really really important.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I mean blood is too.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Most cancer patients will need both. Some cancer, depending on
the treatment, you might not need platelets is a cancer patient,
but most of them do. And the ones that I
end up running into because I'm donating platelets and telling
stories about them, those are the people that I've connected with.
But it's super important for that. But platelets are just
one part of your blood product.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
But it's not easy.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
You can't just sit there for twenty minutes and drop
it in a bag. It's something that takes a little
bit longer.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Tell me about the process.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
So the process, it's very.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Similar to giving blood. You sit in a chair and
they put a needle in your arm. This needle, though,
is a little different. It's hooked up to a machine
called an a freesis machine that will draw the blood
out of out of your arm and it runs it
through I'll just call it to simplify it, just a
centrifuge or a series of centrifuge that depending on how
(21:49):
it's set up, it knows all right, I'm gonna put
the platelets over here, I'm and keep everything else and
after it's process that, then it returns the rest of
your blood back to your body.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
That's interesting. Yeah, I thought that was the coolest thing,
sifting the platelets out. Yeah, and then.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
That's weird that aunt bunch of little chipmunks in there going.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
There's one it's like a magnet for platelets or something
like that. So it's collecting platelets. And but why's it doing.
Why don't they just take the blood out of you?
You know why they do that? So they used to
do that.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
They used to use the machine.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
They would take the blood out and then they would
separate it into their number. There's plasma and there's blood
cells and platelets, and they used.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
To separate it out all in one shot.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
In fact, if you look at some of the pictures,
you'll see multiple bags hanging from the from the rack
while I'm donating.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Now the only two.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Bags get filled with the platelets. But they used to
also pull plasma and blood at the same time. The
technologies get just gotten better. They they'll do whole blood.
They'll do a double red is very similar, where they'll
hook you up to a machine and take and through
the technical process.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
They'll pull out more red blood cells.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
So if you donate double reds, you'll have a twelve
or sixteen week waiting process.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
So you can donate again. It takes your body more
time to build what new blood cells than it does
to do platelets.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Oh, well that makes sense. So when they're putting the
blood back in you, it allows you to give platelets
more often because your body.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Is Yeah, exactly, it's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Why does it take two hours, It's.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Just the process of extracting it from your blood.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Does it feel different you mean when it comes back? No,
when you're sitting there, the two hours that you're sitting
there is a sensation any different.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
It does get a little different.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Listen, we're challenging people to go give plate lifts. Well,
a lot of people have a fear of needles, a
reasonable fear of going and sitting in a chair and
talking to a vampire who has a twin phobia. Who's
going to them problem.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Just to be clear that I don't think most full
bottomists have that particular issue.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
They're just straight vampires.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Oh are they just straight vampires? Okay, this is anyway.
But they're going to do this and and I mean,
if I'm considering giving to play, let's I think it's
valuable to know what the process is and how it feels.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Absolutely, it does feel different in it, so that you're
going to get a little bit of pain when the
needle goes in and it's it's weird. You can feel
the blood being drawn out because it's under pressure. In fact,
there's a little there's a little screen where you can
you can kind of see the pressure as it draws
the blood out, and then the bottomus the vampire will
(24:39):
stay there with you until the first time it gets returned,
because that's just as important. If the needle gets put
in the wrong spot and maybe maybe goes through the vein,
that's maybe not such a problem if you're just donating
and the blood's flowing out and it's not coming back.
But if it if it comes back and the needles
has punctured the veins in muscle, it's really painful. And
(25:02):
and but I can I just have to put that out.
I don't ever want somebody to stop donating platelets. That's
happened to me a few times. It hurts, they take
care of you, it heals. It's not life threatening. But
I have to point out you might run into that,
but suck it up, Buttercup, you're about to save up
(25:24):
to three lives. So what's a little needle stick and.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
A little that we're going to get to. But I mean,
just go ahead.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
If you want to know what it feels like, just
pinch your arm for a couple of seconds.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
It was either on a video or maybe in the prep.
You said, sometimes you're you can feel your lips.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Yeah, they put some sort of I don't know if
it's a starch or some sort of material in the return,
just to help keep things flowing.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Well, like, that's how I understand it.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I don't know whether it's like it, but but that
will give your lips sort of a tingly feeling. Some
people get that make metallic taste in their mouth, and
that's why some people say I just can't do it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I can't stand that.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
But again, and that's personal, right, But yeah, it feels
a little different. And sitting there for two hours, isn't it?
It's two hours total. It's usually maybe an hour and
a half for me. I have a friend, though it
totally depends on your body weight, your your heart rate
and other things.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
He's done in an hour. For me it takes an hour.
And okay, but yes, it's different.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
What do you feel like when it's over? I mean,
don't need to do anything?
Speaker 2 (26:31):
No, they well, I use this to my advantage.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
They tell you not to over exert yourself during the
day and like lift weights and lift heavy things and
stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
So you're happy to go sit on the couch.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's why I do it a Friday, and my wife
will say that I'm worthless on Friday nights. I totally
use this as my excuse to just I donate a
platelests to day. I saved three lives, so I'm just
going to sit and relax, and.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
They told me not to exert myself.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Something else about platelets is they can't It's not like blood.
They only last what three.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Four five days, five days, five days, So you got
to use it when you got them, and if you
need them, you need them.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
So that makes platelets even even more important to donate
because you can't store them and just keep them on
the shelf for a while.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I think about Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital here in
Memphis and all those children that have answer and research.
I've gotta believe they're constantly backing for the platelets. With
a hospital full of huldren, I would think so, I
would think.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
So.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I know our blood center provides, We're they've got a
five state system, but all the blood essentially goes local us.
It's really a need that's near enough they can get to.
You kind of have to got to have a good
organization to logistically handle getting all that stuff around.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
So it's cool. But there's this there's this weird synergy
that happened in your world is you get platelets and
then a face gets put on your giving for you. Yep,
(28:16):
we'll be right back. So that I think it's interesting
(28:38):
how a name gets a face gets put to your
I mean, look, you're giving platelets, you're giving blood. Clearly
your brother's doing it. That's awesome. But something happens it
kind of changes it.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
So that was the first time that I donate platelets
when I ran into my brother there at work, my
project manager, Katrina, she and I when we would run
into a problem that we needed to solve, or just
kind of run into a roadblock mentally for something I
was working on, I would I would say I'm going
for a walk, and she would come with me.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Every once in a while we'd go get a cup
of coffee or whatever.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
But our our in our office literally took up a
city block, so sometimes it was just walking around the block.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
A few times she and I were walking this time
along the Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
River, which is very close to where we were, and
I was telling her about my platelet donation.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I said, you know, they called me up and I
went in and I was just telling her.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I thought it was really cool that they took the
blood out and grabbed the platelets and put it back.
And it was and it took a while, but it
was it was really kind of a neat experience.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
And she stopped.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
She looked at me, and she says, you know, if
it wasn't for blood products and platelets, I probably wouldn't
have survived childhood leukemia and I wouldn't be here. And
I'd been working with her for a while. I cared
about her quite a bit, and I so there right
in front of he was somebody who was a recipient
of something that I have the ability to give. And
(30:05):
that was sort of my light bulb moment, saying, maybe
you should go back in two weeks when you're eligible
and do it again. So I did, and I started.
That's kind of what started my I call it now,
I call it my grateful habit, because it's a habit.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Now. I think, well, Alex has very lately provided something
that I think is very interesting. Every two seconds, someone
in the US needs blood and or platelets. Approximately twenty
nine thousand units of red blood cells are needed every day,
every day, twenty nine thousand, and only three percent of
(30:43):
our population is providing it. And I do know that
in a mass housery event, they almost always run out
of blood and the last folks of the hospital die
because they don't have blood. Sure, just think about that
next time we have to endure a school shooting or
some jack doing something horrible. But these mash caasty events,
(31:06):
they run out of blood.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, and you can only have so much on hand
and well and have enough.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Nearly five thousand units of platelets and sixty five hundred
units of plasma are needed every day when they pull
it out of you. How many units is that? You know?
How many units you give per time?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
So when I donate generally, they'll they'll they'll call it
a triple. And so to me, I think that's three.
It can be used by three different people. It's enough
to be used by three people.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
That means if five thousand units of platelets are needed
for use a triple, that means we need about seventeen
hundred donors a day just to meet current demand. That's
a lot. That's a lot. A single car accident, victim,
chemical workuire as many as a hundred units of blood.
(32:07):
Blood and platelets cannot be manufactured. They can only come
from donors. That's stark if you really think about that
and understand that you or someone you love will be
in that position one day. So it puts a face
to giving platelets. And so you go back and you
start giving platelets a lot. Interestingly, your undergraduate degree, in
(32:30):
an odd way, starts to have a place in this
whole platelet thing for you, kind of because you spent
four years learning about storytelling and at some point you
decided storytelling could be part of this journey for you.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Yeah, and that kind of get I would say retriggered.
That's I've got these books on the on the table.
I don't know whether it was I think it was
early on in my platelet donating process. This is this
is before COVID that I started, but just poking around
and I don't know what it was that made me
see it. Just stumbled up on this on a Facebook
(33:08):
page or something. This woman Gracelynn in California and her
aunt Melody were working on a photo project. Her aunt
Melody had survived childhood leukemia two and they were building
a photo project of they wanted to get a hundred
people who had survived cancer. And that's where this book
(33:31):
came from. Beyond Remission And it's is that her book. Yes,
this is their book that they published. It was just
a photo project at the time, and then they turned it.
This was the first thing that they published.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
And Melody Lomboy, Melody Lomboy Low and Graceland Bateman yep.
And it's words of advice for thriving and it's lots
of stories, small story, small stories with big pictures of
cancer survivors right.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Yep, exactly. And this is these are just people in
their neighborhood, I mean, and around where they live in California.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
So so this I thought it was a cool idea.
Then I also read what is it?
Speaker 3 (34:14):
What is the purpose bond that book?
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Behind that book?
Speaker 1 (34:17):
The purpose behind that book is like, if you're going
through cancer, it's it's going to change it alone, it's
going to change your life. You're not alone, It's exactly it.
And it's worth celebrating that you're in remission. Not everybody
gets to that point. Or maybe they do and cancer
comes back. You should celebrate that you're that you're at
that point.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You should, but it's okay to hurt too. You're not alone.
Other people are going through the same thing that you are.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So you thought it was a cool I thought it
was a cool idea, and just it was just a
little trigger saying maybe I could tell some stories too,
But it was really it kind of started more going in. Initially,
I'm like, Okay, somebody else is out there that's going
to this stuff, and I started trying to find a
(35:04):
specific person that I could sit there in the chair,
pray about, think about and focus on the fact that
they might need what I've got to give, knowing that
I can't dedicate it directly to them. Well you never
know that because it's all because of privacy rules and stuff.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
But somebody while you're sitting there, while I'm sitting there,
so now, why you're giving platelets.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
I'm using one hand to type my story. I should
have thought.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
About that, think about maybe somebody you're focusing on actually
who you might could be helping exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It's my motivation, motivation and reminder to keep going in.
Sometimes I go in though and I got to tell
you it's it's hard sometimes because I might not have
the energy.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
But that's why I'm glad. It's a habit too.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
And you'll see if you read through my posts every
once in a while, you'll find one that's like, you
know what, I don't have a story to but I'm
still here because somebody needs these things. But over time
I started to get connected to people that I knew
that were directly it let people I worked with, but
also through people like Graceland and Elodie who I've never
(36:13):
met personally but we're connected and still chat a lot.
They connected me to other people who had cancer. I mean,
there's a bunch of people in here. Some of the
people in this book I've told a story about or
shared their shared their experience as part of donating my platelets.
And I've kind of got there's several goals. One life saving, right,
(36:37):
It's who wouldn't want to save life. I'm not qualified
to be an EMT or a doctor or a firefighter
or anything like that, but I could sit there in
a chair and have blood taken. Another thing that I
want to do is honor the person that is going
through that cancer journey.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I watch my dad and my mother and I'll go
through it.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
And I don't know that I fully appreciated at the
time the amount of work that was for them, and
for my mom and for Michelle's dad and these people
and their families. It completely changes your life, and I
want to spend a little Instagram limits the number of
characters you can put in right, so I can spend
(37:15):
a little bit of time honoring their journey at the
time while still being there in the chair and trying
to do something worthwhile.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I was just gonna say.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
My other goal though, is to use that story to
maybe have somebody say, wow, I'm going through that too,
or I know somebody who's going through cancer. But the
main goal is, or the end goal is maybe I
should try and donate too and give it a try
like you guys you've tried the first time. Now after
finding out about it, I'm hoping that there's a whole
(37:46):
bunch of people out there who said I'll do that.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
I can do that. So you talk to people first
and hear about their stories, and then just say I
give platelets. I father out of cancer, my father, I'm
all ot of cancer. I have very close friends who
had childhood leukemia that survived cancer, and I want to
respectfully put your story out there to encourage other people
(38:10):
to both fight through cancer and those who don't have
cancer to give.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
That's pretty much. Yet I don't.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
One thing that I consciously don't do is try and
put myself in the I know what you're going through mode,
because I don't know what they're going through. But I
always I never share somebody's story without talking to them first,
or messaging or whatever.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
So do you have this community now?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
I do? Now?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I think am up to maybe it's been eight years
and I've counted somewhere ninety to one hundred different people
that I've connected to because of these stories, all over
the country, all over the world. You know people in
New Zealand and England and other places that talk back
to me and we share messages. Some it may have
(38:54):
been a story and then I never heard from them
again or I didn't reach back out to them, and
I feel guilty about that as I was going through
I always I try to type it up and I've
got a Google doc that I use for it.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
So reading back through those.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I'm like, oh, I wonder how Steve's doing, and I
look back and Steve died two years ago, and it
made me cry because I don't I wish I could
keep track of and keeping contact with everyone. Some I'm
I'm really super close to it and spend a lot
of time messaging back and forth, sometimes late at night,
which which Michelle is like, just go to bed, but
(39:28):
it's so Yeah, it's like a second family to me.
And I've connected with some really amazing people who are
inspiring the way that they handle.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
This year, and the followers of family and all of
that creates kind of this thing you've got online too.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, I think so too. I mean it's it's organic.
I don't go I haven't gone out shouting to the
world or anything. Look what I'm doing. I just try
and share it and try to make it about them,
and it ends up being about me just by default
because I'm sharing my page. But that's not what I
wanted to want it to be about them and about
(40:08):
the need for for people to come in and do this.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
And that concludes part one of my conversations with John Norman,
and you don't want to miss part two that's not
available to listen to together. Guys, We can change this country,
but it starts with you. I'll see you in Part two.
My project manager, Katrina. She and I when we would
run into a problem that we needed to solve, or
I would say, I'm going.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
For a walk.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
She and I were walking this time along the Milwaukee River.
I was telling her about my platelet donation. I said,
you know, they called me up and I went in
and I was just telling her. I thought it was
really cool that they took the blood out and grabbed
the platelets and put it back.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And she stopped.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
She looked at me, and she says, you know, if
it wasn't for blood products and platelets, I probably wouldn't
have survived childhood leukemia and I wouldn't be here. So
there right in front of me was somebody who was
a recipient of something that I have the ability to give.
And that was sort of my light bulb moment, saying,
maybe you should go back in two weeks when you're
eligible and.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Do it again. So I did, and I started.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That's kind of what started my I call it now,
I call it my grateful habit, because it's a habit.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Now, Welcome to an army of normal votes. I'm Bill Courtney.
I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,
I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach an
inner city Memphis, and the last part somehow led to
an oscar for the film they made about our football team.
It's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will never
(01:20):
be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice
suits using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN
and Fox, but rather by an army of normal phones. Guys,
that's us, just you and me deciding Hey, maybe I
can help. That's what John Norman, the voice you just heard,
(01:40):
has done. John has donated platelets over one hundred and
sixty times, which is helping to save lives while sitting
in a chair for ninety minutes, something almost all of
us can do. I can't wait for you to meet
John right after these brief messages from our general sponsors.
(02:16):
John Norman from Port Washington, Wisconsin. Where in the world
is that.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Just north of Milwaukee about fifteen to twenty miles.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Does that make you a Brewers fan and a Packers fan?
Packers fan for sure, Yeah, and a Brewers fan. I
don't watch a lot of baseball, but it's a fun game.
I got it at Bucks Basketball.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Bucks for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Bucks and six, although not the last couple of years
we just got knocked out.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, you got a superstar up there. Sounds like he's
not real happy to be up there anymore.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
They've got their things going on. I also don't pay
much attention to the Bucks unless they're unless they're winning.
I'm not a fair Weather fan. But I grew up
in Colorado and we did not at the time have
a We had a basketball we didn't have a baseball team,
so I never got into baseball right And I was
born in New Mexico and went to Alaska. No baseball
teams there either, so baseball was not a thing.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Let me throw one on you a Denver basketball Frian.
One of my favorite players was Keiky Vandaway. You remember
that name at all?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That sounds familiar.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Oh wow, he was. That was eighties he was. He
was a really good shooter. Anyway, not why you're here, John,
but thanks for thanks for flying down from Port Washington
and visiting with us. Alex, how do we find John?
You found us, I know, tell us about it. Alex
the producer will tell us how we found John.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
He emailed us one day. Yes, this email wasn't boring.
His email wasn't born, so we responded to him, think,
sure you should say it was in the email, John,
it's better coming from you.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I do remember sending this email because I'd kind of
discovered you guys, and I was donating platelets one day
and I'm like, this is pretty much a normal person
kind of thing to do, and anybody can do it,
almost anybody. So I sent you a quick email just
saying just part of your part of your army, our army.
I don't know if you remember that part, but I
put the y in parentheses and yeah, I just wanted
(04:12):
to call out that donating blood and platelets is an
important thing to do, and it's something that I thought
at the time this is just enough information for a
shop talk. Never thought i'd be called here to come
into an actual interview, but there was more that came
with it later on.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I guess, well, there's more to your story too, which
I can't wait to get into. And it's cool that
we are now organically getting a lot of our guests,
which is why I want to tell a story, because
before even start, I want to remind everybody that at
the end of all of these things, we beg folks.
To send us ideas for shop dogs, beg folks to
(04:49):
send us stories of people they know, And you're living
proof that we're serious about that. And it is just
cool that we're getting organic guests from the show who
listened to the show tell stories, and you're emblematic of that.
Something else I think you're emblematic of is that we
really want to challenge people to think beyond massive five
(05:13):
OHO one C threes and beyond huge organizations, that an
army of normal folks can exact a great measure of
change just doing what they can and their neck of
the woods, seeing their areas and need and filling them.
And John, I mean that's what you do.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be part
of that army and doing one thing at a time.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well you are.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
But first, I think I gave you the actual email,
don't I?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Bill, What's that?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Isn't the email in your prep email the email that
John sent us originally?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Well, I don't know. Maybe I think it's I don't
think it is. Really, Yeah, you didn't do your job
this time, Alex. I mean I always brag on how
good a job you do prepping me. Now I will
say that I watched the whole YouTube video. So that's
that was really nice that you spent the ten seconds
to attach that. Thank you. Okay, So John, sorry, alex
(06:10):
Is just sit in a corner. Hey, Passius, could we
get like a curtain like at the Wizard of Oz
and just pull it across his area so I don't
have to deal with him? Thanks, appreciate it. We'll install
that maybe next week. Awesome. I know that you know
you're giving back because you were I guess I'm going
(06:33):
to use a word I don't even know if it's right.
A scout master maybe, or what you were like in
charge of your So you volunteer doing stuff with your
sons and cub Scouts and boy Scouts, and that means
you're engaged with a bunch of other kids too. I
assume and absolutely all that and put a normal life.
(06:54):
And then one day your work hosted a blood drove. Yep,
what was that about? So?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I worked at a life science company at the time
in Milwaukee, and I don't know so this this company
at the time, this is the part that I was
involved in. They worked with pharmaceutical companies and helped them
with things like their helpline. If you've got a drug
and you got questions about it, you can call up
and learn more about it.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
We had people on staff there that would that were.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Trained to answer those questions and at least triage them
and if if they didn't know the answer, could send
them to somebody that knew more. And I was only
working there because it was it was an IT job
that I could do. They offered a blood drive for
the entire company. They said, We're going to bring in
a blood center Wisconsin and set up in our lobby
(07:49):
and you're welcome to take time off of your day
and donate blood. So I think this is an easy one.
It's literally right down the hall. And I had not
given blood since maybe a couple times when we were
with the boy Scouts we were at some.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Place where they offered it get blood.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Probably no I was the adult forcing our kids somebody
to get blood. I'm like, I'll go if you go.
But that was years before, and before that, maybe in
high school, I had donated once or twice. So I
went and it was took twenty minutes and I was
back at work. And a week later I got a
phone call from the blood center and They said, you know,
(08:29):
you've got a really high platelet count and your blood
type is one that we would normally lead you in
this direction. Would you consider donating platelets? And I said,
what's the difference? How you do that for question? They said, well,
it takes a little bit longer. We'll explain it to
you when you get here, just playing on a couple
hours instead of twenty minutes.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I'm like, all right, that's cool. So when can I
do this?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
How early can it because I need to come to
work afterwards. So I set up an appointment to go
into the blood center. I had to wait a while
because I had given blood and you have to wait
eight weeks after giving whole blood.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So I went in.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I set up an appointment at six o'clock in the morning,
and I walked in and I'm signing into their sheet
and one of the questions on the.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Signing sheet was have you donated before?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And I answered no, And the person behind the counter said, well,
why did you just check the noebox? I said, well,
I've never donated platelets before. This is a new thing
for me. You said you'd explain it.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
When I came from scouting, and one of the twelve
things has to be something to do with honest.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I think that was probably one of the ones I missed.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Got a boy, Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Actually I don't think honesty is in there. It's kind
of implied before.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
You drop this line. I want to divert real quick.
You're there signing in and they're like, why are you checking?
And you check. No, we'll pick up back there in
just a moment. I had a guest on that gave
me some demographics or some data, not demographics, some data
(09:56):
around blood donors, and it made Alex co give blood.
It was John that was the data was from John.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
I pulled the data online.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
You pulled the data after John's okay, so it was
you pulled the data, all right. The data, to me
is what was so opening, And we're going to get
to it because I think there's going to be some
data about the next thing we're going to talk about.
But I want to remind our listeners what that data
is and I'm going to screw it up, So correct me,
(10:34):
all right, but I'm going to go for it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
You probably know better than I do, Alex. Alex should
remember I don't feel in any details with me.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Please quite referring to the man in the corner. So
the data I think that is right is that only
three percent of the population donates blood. And okay, I
am sure there are low percentages of people in the population.
They do lots of stuff that should be done. But
(11:03):
here's where it really kind of was eye opening to me.
If you're in a car wreck and go to the yar,
you need blood. If you're a cancer patient, you need blood.
If you have any kind of surgery, you need blood.
If it's almost inconceivable that throughout life, you or someone
(11:28):
in your immediate family that you love or both will
not need blood more than one time in your life.
So here's the data that I siphon from that. One
hundred percent of every single person walking around in our
country today will need blood for themselves or someone in
(11:53):
their immediate friend, not a distant friend, their immediate family
that they love at least once and probably two or
three times before they reach death.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
One hundred and only three. So there's three out of
one hundred people in the world in the world are
supporting the entire medical community.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
And it's actually less than well, I'm gonna I'm going
to back up on that a little bit. It might
be less than that because only sixty five percent of
the population are eligible to donate. Because what if you
already had cancer, or if you've got some blood or whatever,
your your high blood pressure, got a heart condition.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Only two out of every three people hand right, and
then only three percent of who came.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I don't know if that, Yeah, it might be a
lot less either way, it's a really small number.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Right, let me move the sheet back just a second, Okay, Alex,
you can speak now. Is that data about, right? Is
the adult population is the way they that's fair absently
adult population. But still it's nothing. It's nothing. And when
Alex did the data and we were talking to you
on the shop talk and your information, I think you
(13:07):
you went and gave blood like the next week, didn't
you know?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
I mean it was almost a providence providancial thing. My
church just happened to be having a mobile you know
thing in the next week. So it's honestly, I can't
give myself too much credit. Like it literally was in
my backyard in the next week.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Really, yeah, Well it was easy, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
It was? Yeah? And I gave blood about two and
a half weeks ago because I said I was going
to deals. Yes, tell you that nice big deal. All right,
And now a few messages from our general sponsors. But first,
our next live interview in Memphis will be on June
(13:46):
twelfth with Father Mark Hannah. Father Mark and a team
of four other civilians saved over fifty lives on nine
to eleven and the rest of his team died while
trying to save more people. After nine to eleven, Mark
became a Coptic priest and hence the father title. It's
(14:08):
part of our lunch and listen series that we've been
doing at Crosstown Concourses Myphis Listening Lab, and you can
learn more at RSVP at Fathermark dot event bright dot com.
We hope to see you there. We'll be right back.
(14:37):
So first to everybody listening right now, when we talk
about being an arman, normal folks, and you can see
an area need and fill it and you don't have to,
I mean, be part of any big organization, go give blood.
It takes.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Minutes, maybe half an hour times.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
And to be honest with you, I felt great after
I gave blood, Like I don't know, I was like
lost weight or something. I know that sounds stupid, but
that's exactly how I felt.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
With blood. They take it, they don't give it back
to you.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So you're missing a paint stuff right right, and your
body feels it and your.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Body start doing more. I don't know why it feels
good afterwards, but I really feel good.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Not like maybe because I did a thing physically.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I actually felt lighter. It was weird, I.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Think, so, well, you probably felt lightheaded. I mean, you're
missing it.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I don't know what I felt, but it was great
and I'm going to continue to do it. And Alex
is too.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I think I heard somebody else on your podcast, to
your podcast that you had, the woman from Box. She
was saying that she had donated and she said it's
also kind of a health thing because you lose calories
when you're donating blood.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, there you go. So everybody listen. If you're thinking,
what can I hold it just one second? Cassius, have
you given blood? Yeah, Alice, Cassius is not giving blood.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Well he didn't hear our Shop Talk episode, so.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Well you heard it now, Alex. I mean, Cassius, what
you're going to do? Casius? Everybody, it's a challenge. This
is a twenty minute thing. And honestly, this is how
I reconcile it with me. I or someone of my
family is going to need blood. And my father in
(16:24):
laws had opened our surgery he had to have blood.
My son Max coated after a football accident. His spleen
blew up and they put seven units in him. Seven.
He bled out he'd be dead if somebody had neggaive blood.
(16:45):
How selfish would I be to be able to give
blood and people need blood and have had two very
close family members survive because of that blood, and not
retard the favor we need to give blood? So okay,
all soap box? You checked no?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I checked no, yep, I've never been here to give
plate No. Why'd you check that box? I've never been here.
So and again I'm like, you guys are going to
explain this to me when I got here. So I'm
just trying to follow the rules here too. And they're like,
but you've donated before. I said, no, I never haven't it.
Ten fifteen seconds later, my twin brother walked in the door.
(17:30):
He also had a six o'clock in the morning Friday morning,
six o'clock appointment to donate platelets that day, and he
had started a few months before I did, and probably
for the same kind of reason. I don't know if
we ever talked about. It was just kind of a
freaky twin thing that happened that day, and I thought, yeah,
I think maybe I'm supposed to be here.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
That's pretty that's very cool. And the same kind of
reason was you gave blood. They said your plate look
count was high and they looked good.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
He's got the same blood type I do.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And your blood type is only what nine percent of
the people in the world have. Your blood, that's what
I understand be positive is and so yours is pretty valuable.
And so he did it, and you do it. You
bounce into each other and you're both giving platelets. Now
that's an interesting thing. That was cool.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So it kind of freaked.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
There's actually a phlebottomus there who when we were both there,
she had she had an aversion, not an aversion, but
unconscious fear of twins.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And whenever we were there, she left.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Are you kidding? There's a phobia? There's a twin? Is
it really?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
She was? She was super nice and whenever it was
just me, no problem.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
That is so weird that some kind of vampire with
a phobia. That's weird. Okay, So let's talk about platelets,
because I didn't know anything about him until I did
a little research after knowing I was going to meet
with you. But blood can be stored. I think blood
can even be frozen, can't It not true?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I know it can be stored.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
For a fairly significant period of time. Platelets can't. And
I'll let you explain it before we go any further
so that people understand what the world platelets is and
why it takes two hours instead of twenty minutes. But
just ninth grade biology, I remember that platelets are what
(19:23):
helps your blood. I think it's coagulate. Yep. Is that right?
So why don't you just let's before we go any further,
let's talk about why platelets are different than blood, why
they're so valuable, what they do, and then what the
process is giving them in why it's different.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, so you hit the high point of platelets. Platelets
are the part of your blood that coagulate and and
heal your wounds. If you get a scratch or a cut,
that's what helps stop the bleeding at that point. And
that's because if you don't call out coagulate you just
just keep bleeding, right, So it's super important. And and
like you said, if you're in surgery, then it's blood.
(20:04):
If you are a cancer patient, you're going through chemo
or radiation, that'll knock down your blood counts but also
knock down your platelet counts and that puts you at
risk of bleeding out or having issues with that.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So platelets are so if you're if you're going through
chemo and god forbid, you get a car wreck or
something else happens where you need share of surgery. If
the chemo knocks down your platelet clown, they can't even
do the surgery on you because.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
That might be the case.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, wait out.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Or if you've got cancer and I hope I don't
say this wrong because I haven't I don't really know
all the answers to this, but if you're getting this treatment,
it'll knock your platelet counts down to the point where
they won't be able to give you other treatments because
your body can't recover. So the platelets for cancer patients
are are really really important.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I mean blood is too.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Most cancer patients will need both. Some cancer, depending on
the treatment, you might not need platelets is a cancer patient,
but most of them do. And the ones that I
end up running into because I'm donating platelets and telling
stories about them, those are the people that I've connected with.
But it's super important for that. But platelets are just
one part of your blood product.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
But it's not easy.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
You can't just sit there for twenty minutes and drop
it in a bag. It's something that takes a little
bit longer.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Tell me about the process.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
So the process, it's very.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Similar to giving blood. You sit in a chair and
they put a needle in your arm. This needle, though,
is a little different. It's hooked up to a machine
called an a freesis machine that will draw the blood
out of out of your arm and it runs it
through I'll just call it to simplify it, just a
centrifuge or a series of centrifuge that depending on how
(21:49):
it's set up, it knows all right, I'm gonna put
the platelets over here, I'm and keep everything else and
after it's process that, then it returns the rest of
your blood back to your body.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
That's interesting. Yeah, I thought that was the coolest thing,
sifting the platelets out. Yeah, and then.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
That's weird that aunt bunch of little chipmunks in there going.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
There's one it's like a magnet for platelets or something
like that. So it's collecting platelets. And but why's it doing.
Why don't they just take the blood out of you?
You know why they do that? So they used to
do that.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
They used to use the machine.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
They would take the blood out and then they would
separate it into their number. There's plasma and there's blood
cells and platelets, and they used.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
To separate it out all in one shot.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
In fact, if you look at some of the pictures,
you'll see multiple bags hanging from the from the rack
while I'm donating.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Now the only two.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Bags get filled with the platelets. But they used to
also pull plasma and blood at the same time. The
technologies get just gotten better. They they'll do whole blood.
They'll do a double red is very similar, where they'll
hook you up to a machine and take and through
the technical process.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
They'll pull out more red blood cells.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
So if you donate double reds, you'll have a twelve
or sixteen week waiting process.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
So you can donate again. It takes your body more
time to build what new blood cells than it does
to do platelets.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Oh, well that makes sense. So when they're putting the
blood back in you, it allows you to give platelets
more often because your body.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Is Yeah, exactly, it's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Why does it take two hours, It's.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Just the process of extracting it from your blood.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Does it feel different you mean when it comes back? No,
when you're sitting there, the two hours that you're sitting
there is a sensation any different.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
It does get a little different.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Listen, we're challenging people to go give plate lifts. Well,
a lot of people have a fear of needles, a
reasonable fear of going and sitting in a chair and
talking to a vampire who has a twin phobia. Who's
going to them problem.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Just to be clear that I don't think most full
bottomists have that particular issue.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
They're just straight vampires.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Oh are they just straight vampires? Okay, this is anyway.
But they're going to do this and and I mean,
if I'm considering giving to play, let's I think it's
valuable to know what the process is and how it feels.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Absolutely, it does feel different in it, so that you're
going to get a little bit of pain when the
needle goes in and it's it's weird. You can feel
the blood being drawn out because it's under pressure. In fact,
there's a little there's a little screen where you can
you can kind of see the pressure as it draws
the blood out, and then the bottomus the vampire will
(24:39):
stay there with you until the first time it gets returned,
because that's just as important. If the needle gets put
in the wrong spot and maybe maybe goes through the vein,
that's maybe not such a problem if you're just donating
and the blood's flowing out and it's not coming back.
But if it if it comes back and the needles
has punctured the veins in muscle, it's really painful. And
(25:02):
and but I can I just have to put that out.
I don't ever want somebody to stop donating platelets. That's
happened to me a few times. It hurts, they take
care of you, it heals. It's not life threatening. But
I have to point out you might run into that,
but suck it up, Buttercup, you're about to save up
(25:24):
to three lives. So what's a little needle stick and.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
A little that we're going to get to. But I mean,
just go ahead.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
If you want to know what it feels like, just
pinch your arm for a couple of seconds.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
It was either on a video or maybe in the prep.
You said, sometimes you're you can feel your lips.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Yeah, they put some sort of I don't know if
it's a starch or some sort of material in the return,
just to help keep things flowing.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Well, like, that's how I understand it.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I don't know whether it's like it, but but that
will give your lips sort of a tingly feeling. Some
people get that make metallic taste in their mouth, and
that's why some people say I just can't do it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I can't stand that.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
But again, and that's personal, right, But yeah, it feels
a little different. And sitting there for two hours, isn't it?
It's two hours total. It's usually maybe an hour and
a half for me. I have a friend, though it
totally depends on your body weight, your your heart rate
and other things.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
He's done in an hour. For me it takes an hour.
And okay, but yes, it's different.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
What do you feel like when it's over? I mean,
don't need to do anything?
Speaker 2 (26:31):
No, they well, I use this to my advantage.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
They tell you not to over exert yourself during the
day and like lift weights and lift heavy things and
stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
So you're happy to go sit on the couch.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's why I do it a Friday, and my wife
will say that I'm worthless on Friday nights. I totally
use this as my excuse to just I donate a
platelests to day. I saved three lives, so I'm just
going to sit and relax, and.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
They told me not to exert myself.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Something else about platelets is they can't It's not like blood.
They only last what three.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Four five days, five days, five days, So you got
to use it when you got them, and if you
need them, you need them.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
So that makes platelets even even more important to donate
because you can't store them and just keep them on
the shelf for a while.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I think about Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital here in
Memphis and all those children that have answer and research.
I've gotta believe they're constantly backing for the platelets. With
a hospital full of huldren, I would think so, I
would think.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
So.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I know our blood center provides, We're they've got a
five state system, but all the blood essentially goes local us.
It's really a need that's near enough they can get to.
You kind of have to got to have a good
organization to logistically handle getting all that stuff around.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
So it's cool. But there's this there's this weird synergy
that happened in your world is you get platelets and
then a face gets put on your giving for you. Yep,
(28:16):
we'll be right back. So that I think it's interesting
(28:38):
how a name gets a face gets put to your
I mean, look, you're giving platelets, you're giving blood. Clearly
your brother's doing it. That's awesome. But something happens it
kind of changes it.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
So that was the first time that I donate platelets
when I ran into my brother there at work, my
project manager, Katrina, she and I when we would run
into a problem that we needed to solve, or just
kind of run into a roadblock mentally for something I
was working on, I would I would say I'm going
for a walk, and she would come with me.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Every once in a while we'd go get a cup
of coffee or whatever.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
But our our in our office literally took up a
city block, so sometimes it was just walking around the block.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
A few times she and I were walking this time
along the Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
River, which is very close to where we were, and
I was telling her about my platelet donation.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I said, you know, they called me up and I
went in and I was just telling her.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I thought it was really cool that they took the
blood out and grabbed the platelets and put it back.
And it was and it took a while, but it
was it was really kind of a neat experience.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
And she stopped.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
She looked at me, and she says, you know, if
it wasn't for blood products and platelets, I probably wouldn't
have survived childhood leukemia and I wouldn't be here. And
I'd been working with her for a while. I cared
about her quite a bit, and I so there right
in front of he was somebody who was a recipient
of something that I have the ability to give. And
(30:05):
that was sort of my light bulb moment, saying, maybe
you should go back in two weeks when you're eligible
and do it again. So I did, and I started.
That's kind of what started my I call it now,
I call it my grateful habit, because it's a habit.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Now. I think, well, Alex has very lately provided something
that I think is very interesting. Every two seconds, someone
in the US needs blood and or platelets. Approximately twenty
nine thousand units of red blood cells are needed every day,
every day, twenty nine thousand, and only three percent of
(30:43):
our population is providing it. And I do know that
in a mass housery event, they almost always run out
of blood and the last folks of the hospital die
because they don't have blood. Sure, just think about that
next time we have to endure a school shooting or
some jack doing something horrible. But these mash caasty events,
(31:06):
they run out of blood.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, and you can only have so much on hand
and well and have enough.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Nearly five thousand units of platelets and sixty five hundred
units of plasma are needed every day when they pull
it out of you. How many units is that? You know?
How many units you give per time?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
So when I donate generally, they'll they'll they'll call it
a triple. And so to me, I think that's three.
It can be used by three different people. It's enough
to be used by three people.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
That means if five thousand units of platelets are needed
for use a triple, that means we need about seventeen
hundred donors a day just to meet current demand. That's
a lot. That's a lot. A single car accident, victim,
chemical workuire as many as a hundred units of blood.
(32:07):
Blood and platelets cannot be manufactured. They can only come
from donors. That's stark if you really think about that
and understand that you or someone you love will be
in that position one day. So it puts a face
to giving platelets. And so you go back and you
start giving platelets a lot. Interestingly, your undergraduate degree, in
(32:30):
an odd way, starts to have a place in this
whole platelet thing for you, kind of because you spent
four years learning about storytelling and at some point you
decided storytelling could be part of this journey for you.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Yeah, and that kind of get I would say retriggered.
That's I've got these books on the on the table.
I don't know whether it was I think it was
early on in my platelet donating process. This is this
is before COVID that I started, but just poking around
and I don't know what it was that made me
see it. Just stumbled up on this on a Facebook
(33:08):
page or something. This woman Gracelynn in California and her
aunt Melody were working on a photo project. Her aunt
Melody had survived childhood leukemia two and they were building
a photo project of they wanted to get a hundred
people who had survived cancer. And that's where this book
(33:31):
came from. Beyond Remission And it's is that her book. Yes,
this is their book that they published. It was just
a photo project at the time, and then they turned it.
This was the first thing that they published.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
And Melody Lomboy, Melody Lomboy Low and Graceland Bateman yep.
And it's words of advice for thriving and it's lots
of stories, small story, small stories with big pictures of
cancer survivors right.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Yep, exactly. And this is these are just people in
their neighborhood, I mean, and around where they live in California.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
So so this I thought it was a cool idea.
Then I also read what is it?
Speaker 3 (34:14):
What is the purpose bond that book?
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Behind that book?
Speaker 1 (34:17):
The purpose behind that book is like, if you're going
through cancer, it's it's going to change it alone, it's
going to change your life. You're not alone, It's exactly it.
And it's worth celebrating that you're in remission. Not everybody
gets to that point. Or maybe they do and cancer
comes back. You should celebrate that you're that you're at
that point.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You should, but it's okay to hurt too. You're not alone.
Other people are going through the same thing that you are.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So you thought it was a cool I thought it
was a cool idea, and just it was just a
little trigger saying maybe I could tell some stories too,
But it was really it kind of started more going in. Initially,
I'm like, Okay, somebody else is out there that's going
to this stuff, and I started trying to find a
(35:04):
specific person that I could sit there in the chair,
pray about, think about and focus on the fact that
they might need what I've got to give, knowing that
I can't dedicate it directly to them. Well you never
know that because it's all because of privacy rules and stuff.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
But somebody while you're sitting there, while I'm sitting there,
so now, why you're giving platelets.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
I'm using one hand to type my story. I should
have thought.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
About that, think about maybe somebody you're focusing on actually
who you might could be helping exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It's my motivation, motivation and reminder to keep going in.
Sometimes I go in though and I got to tell
you it's it's hard sometimes because I might not have
the energy.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
But that's why I'm glad. It's a habit too.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
And you'll see if you read through my posts every
once in a while, you'll find one that's like, you
know what, I don't have a story to but I'm
still here because somebody needs these things. But over time
I started to get connected to people that I knew
that were directly it let people I worked with, but
also through people like Graceland and Elodie who I've never
(36:13):
met personally but we're connected and still chat a lot.
They connected me to other people who had cancer. I mean,
there's a bunch of people in here. Some of the
people in this book I've told a story about or
shared their shared their experience as part of donating my platelets.
And I've kind of got there's several goals. One life saving, right,
(36:37):
It's who wouldn't want to save life. I'm not qualified
to be an EMT or a doctor or a firefighter
or anything like that, but I could sit there in
a chair and have blood taken. Another thing that I
want to do is honor the person that is going
through that cancer journey.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I watch my dad and my mother and I'll go
through it.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
And I don't know that I fully appreciated at the
time the amount of work that was for them, and
for my mom and for Michelle's dad and these people
and their families. It completely changes your life, and I
want to spend a little Instagram limits the number of
characters you can put in right, so I can spend
(37:15):
a little bit of time honoring their journey at the
time while still being there in the chair and trying
to do something worthwhile.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I was just gonna say.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
My other goal though, is to use that story to
maybe have somebody say, wow, I'm going through that too,
or I know somebody who's going through cancer. But the
main goal is, or the end goal is maybe I
should try and donate too and give it a try
like you guys you've tried the first time. Now after
finding out about it, I'm hoping that there's a whole
(37:46):
bunch of people out there who said I'll do that.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
I can do that. So you talk to people first
and hear about their stories, and then just say I
give platelets. I father out of cancer, my father, I'm
all ot of cancer. I have very close friends who
had childhood leukemia that survived cancer, and I want to
respectfully put your story out there to encourage other people
(38:10):
to both fight through cancer and those who don't have
cancer to give.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
That's pretty much. Yet I don't.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
One thing that I consciously don't do is try and
put myself in the I know what you're going through mode,
because I don't know what they're going through. But I
always I never share somebody's story without talking to them first,
or messaging or whatever.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
So do you have this community now?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
I do? Now?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I think am up to maybe it's been eight years
and I've counted somewhere ninety to one hundred different people
that I've connected to because of these stories, all over
the country, all over the world. You know people in
New Zealand and England and other places that talk back
to me and we share messages. Some it may have
(38:54):
been a story and then I never heard from them
again or I didn't reach back out to them, and
I feel guilty about that as I was going through
I always I try to type it up and I've
got a Google doc that I use for it.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
So reading back through those.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I'm like, oh, I wonder how Steve's doing, and I
look back and Steve died two years ago, and it
made me cry because I don't I wish I could
keep track of and keeping contact with everyone. Some I'm
I'm really super close to it and spend a lot
of time messaging back and forth, sometimes late at night,
which which Michelle is like, just go to bed, but
(39:28):
it's so Yeah, it's like a second family to me.
And I've connected with some really amazing people who are
inspiring the way that they handle.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
This year, and the followers of family and all of
that creates kind of this thing you've got online too.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, I think so too. I mean it's it's organic.
I don't go I haven't gone out shouting to the
world or anything. Look what I'm doing. I just try
and share it and try to make it about them,
and it ends up being about me just by default
because I'm sharing my page. But that's not what I
wanted to want it to be about them and about
(40:08):
the need for for people to come in and do this.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
And that concludes part one of my conversations with John Norman,
and you don't want to miss part two that's not
available to listen to together. Guys, We can change this country,
but it starts with you. I'll see you in Part two.
Host
Bill Courtney
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.