Plasma donation is used for a variety of reasons, and at BioLife Plasma Services, 1455 County Farm Road, donors can get paid for the plasma their body generates naturally.

Junior business major Dylan Beach started donating plasma as an extra source of income.

“While it’s not enough to pay the bills, the money I make is enough to use at the bars over the weekend,” he said. “I also like knowing I saved someone’s life while earning the money.”

According to BioLife’s website, www.biolifeplasma.com, BioLife collects nearly 3 million liters of plasma each year, and the way the donations are used is versatile. Plasma can be used for hemophilia patients whose blood does not clot, restoring blood lost from trauma victims, support for the large number of immune deficiency disorders, pulmonary deficiency patients who lack blood protein to protect lung tissue, and surgical homeostasis and tissue sealing.

Besides being beneficial to 1 million patients who need plasma therapy each year, donation can also benefit the donors.

“Each BioLife center is a vital part of its community. The donors not only contribute the source of life-saving therapeutics, but also contribute to the commercial vitality of their immediate neighborhoods,” according to the website. “The fees donors receive for their commitment to the BioLife program are used to support church, civic and charitable organizations and activities, or for their families. These dollars are then spent and re-spent in the community, multiplying their impact and the benefits to the donors, neighboring businesses and the community at large.”

There are two types of plasma: recovered and source. Recovered plasma comes from whole blood donations. There is about 250 milliliters of plasma per whole blood donation. Source plasma is collected through an automated plasmapheresis process. This process involves removing blood through use of a machine, which then returns the cellular parts of the blood (red blood cells and platelets) to the donor. This process yields more plasma, about 600 to 800 milliliter per donation. Plasma makes up about 57 percent of whole blood.

Like Beach, Jonathon Gorecki, junior electrical engineering major, chooses to donate source plasma as an extra source of income.

“The money comes on a debit card, loaded right after you finish donating,” Gorecki said. “It’s enough money to let me have some fun on the weekends, but it doesn’t cut into the time I’ve devoted to school. Being able to help people on top of that is just the icing on the cake.”

Sophomore marketing major Trevor Korn said he enjoys the extra income as well, but money is not the reason he started donating.

“I always want to help my brother out when I can because he has hemophilia, which makes his blood unable to clot,” Korn said. “I know he relies a lot on plasma donations, so I donate in order to keep the supply up to help him and people like him.”

Representatives from BioLife Plasma Service’s main office were unavailable for comment as of press time.