Adam Clouse celebrated his milestone 25th blood donation recently. And he did it in the effort to battle the coronavirus.
“As long as they keep setting up good snacks, I’ll keep coming,” Clouse shared, with a chuckle.
Clouse, a Cedarville University alumnus who graduated in 2010 with degrees in finance and business management, began his donation streak in Ohio during his time as a Cedarville student. But his 24th and 25th donations have been valuable in a different way: CPP — coronavirus convalescent plasma.
“My symptoms were mild — just a loss of taste and smell — but having recovered from the virus,” Clouse said of his virus, which he contracted in the spring, “my donations can now help people who need COVID-rich blood full of antibodies.”
Clouse first gave blood in high school in central Wisconsin.
“I’d thought to myself then, ‘Of course I want to help people out,’ so it just seemed like the thing to do,” he said. “Then when I got to Cedarville in 2006, the Community Blood Center had blood drives on campus, so I started going to those.”
Upon graduating in 2010, Clouse was hired at LexisNexis, a Miamisburg, Ohio, company specializing in professional research and risk-management services. His proximity to the Community Blood Center and its conveniently located blood drives allowed him to continue donating regularly.
“There is always a need for blood, and this has multiplied due to COVID,” Clouse added. “But with COVID, the center can’t hold blood drives in places of employment or churches anymore. Now, they need people to come down directly to the center. People haven’t stopped needing blood.”
“For my plasma donation, they took my blood, spun the plasma out, and then put the rest of my blood back in,” Clouse continued. “It’s a weird thing to be proud of, but plasma donation is based on size, and I just happen to be a pretty big guy at 6 foot 5 inches tall. They tell me I’m giving the most anyone can, and that one of my donations is enough for four people.”
Despite the changes COVID has brought to blood and plasma donation, Clouse is thankful for this continued opportunity to help his local community. He has also enjoyed the relational aspect of seeing familiar faces at the center, being a veteran donator.
“As long as they keep setting up good snacks, I’ll keep coming,” Clouse shared, with a chuckle.
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,550 undergraduate, graduate and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings and high student engagement ranking. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu.