Kings Offering Playoff Ticket Potential During Platelets Drive

LOS ANGELES (CBS) —  A seven-day platelets drive will be held Tuesday though June 4 at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, with donors entered into a drawing for tickets for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final.

Appointments are required to donate platelets and can be made by calling (323) 361-2441 or emailing blooddonorcenter@chla.usc.edu. Appointments are available at 7:30 a.m., 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily throughout the drive. Donating takes about two hours.

The requirements for donating platelets are the same as for donating blood. People who have taken aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs in the previous 48 hours are not allowed to donate.

Platelets are the cells in blood that help to form clotting and avoid excessive bleeding. Patients receiving chemotherapy or radiation treatment and those who have had a bone marrow transplant have especially low platelet counts and can easily lose blood. Platelet donations are in high demand for children undergoing these treatments.

One donor will receive a hockey puck signed by Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown.

Additional information about what has been dubbed as "Platelets for Playoffs" is available on the playoff portion of the Kings' website, lakings.com/playoffs, or the hospital's website, chla.org.

Similar drives during the first three rounds of the playoffs drew 121 donors, helping nearly 350 children, according to Jeff Moeller, the Kings' senior director of communications.