Numerous posts and tweets have been hitting the Utah scene lately concerning Phil Burn’s daughter, Serenity, being diagnosed with Leukemia. I blogged a couple days ago about the new Chip In Widget, created by Jesse Stay, that thankfully has been distributed amongst a handful of bloggers and is seeing a good up-tick in donations.

However, there is another way to help out.

I truly try to volunteer on a weekly basis (often posting about my experiences on the Cragbaby here, here and here), with my very favorite volunteer activity being donating platelets at ARUP. I have been donating platelets since last summer, trying to give every other week, health permitting. I find it to be the easiest form of service because by sitting and watching a movie (albeit with a needle in my arm) I can directly impact a life.

I choose to donate at ARUP because all donations are used at the local hospitals, helping cancer, transplant and traumatic injury patients. Platelets only have a shelf life of a five days resulting in a continual need. To date I have only been at the ARUP lab on one occasion where I was told they were finally catching up with demand, though they expected to be behind within the next couple days.

The UtahBlood site shows where units of blood are being used. (I am not quite sure if this includes platelet distribution.)

If interested in the Serenity cause or are looking for a fantastic volunteer activity, consider platelet donation. An appointment with ARUP can be made by calling 801-524-5272.

I have gotten to know Phil through a handful of his startups and by following his online presence. He is a good guy willing to take the continual risk of being an entrepreneur in order to provide innovation to many. I would urge you to help him out in this time of need.