Platelet recipient has much to sing about

Gary Sprague is an entertainer and he has much to sing about these days, as he has a new lease on life. Gary, known as Arizona’s Singing Cowboy recently had to have his appendix removed. Although the routine procedure went well, he developed a serious infection after the surgery. Antibiotics didn’t work and his temperature continued to skyrocket. Doctors prepared his wife for the possibility that he might die.

As Gary got worse, doctors called for platelet and plasma transfusions. Finally, his condition stabilized and improved.

Platelets are the component in whole blood that helps control bleeding. Ironically, Gary was a longtime platelet donor himself and now intimately knows the meaning of the phrase “what goes around, comes around.” After saving a countless number of lives himself by donating platelets, Sprague’s life was saved by fellow donors. He recently met two donors who gave their lifesaving platelets to him!

Gary has returned to performing and is happy to be “back in the saddle” by donating platelets again. “Remember that it is not a faceless nobody at the end of your donation,” he said, “It is somebody just like me.”