Susan Pope is our Disaster Program Manager based in Liverpool, Onondaga County.

Born in Europe, she had been ineligible to donate blood due to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance regarding donor eligibility restrictions on European residency and travel as it related to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly referred to as Mad Cow Disease.

The American Red Cross was able to lift that restriction last year in compliance with revised FDA regulations. Susan anxiously joined the ranks of blood donors, and she is also looking forward to her first platelet donation. 

“I moved to the United States from Europe in 2008 and became a Red Cross employee that fall. It was always my wish to help others in any way, including donating blood, but because I’d lived in Europe during the BSE crisis, I was deferred for life.

“In 2022, the ban was lifted and I was overjoyed. I made my donation appointment and learned during the screening that I had to be deferred for a further year because I had just completed radiation treatment for cancer. 

“Not to be deterred, I made my appointment to donate as soon as I could once that year was up. To my great joy, I completed my first blood donation on July 13. I can donate right next to where I work in Liverpool, and I donated again 56 days later.

“Recently, Red Cross called me and mentioned donating platelets. My next donation will be this week, October 5, when I will be making my first platelet donation. I feel like I’m working as fast as I can to catch up on all those years when I wasn’t able to donate. 

“My blood has gone to patients at local hospitals, and it makes me feel so good to receive those notifications that someone not too far away has benefited from me being able to give a unit of blood. “

Thank you Susan!

The Red Cross has many layers of safety in place to help protect the blood supply and health of valued donors, including donor eligibility screening and rigorous testing performed on each donation. We remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure that every blood recipient has access to safe, lifesaving blood products when needed.  

To learn more, visit RedCrossBlood.org.