Does Human blood have an expiration?

Question

MY friends father is going to have surgery and we are wondering if she can donate several times/as much as she can before the surgery so that he will have his type of blood on hand. DO you know if there is an expiration on blood? And he has to have a family memebers because he has so many anti bodies from all of his previous blood transfusions.

Answer 1

Red blood cells are only good for 42 days.  Generally, if the doctor has ordered for family to donate, then they can give several times outside the normal parameters for donating.  Also, if it is a blood relative, the blood must be irradiated to prevent graft vs. host disease.