Can a person donate blood if he or she has had cancer?
A person who has had non-melanoma skin cancer or a localized cancer that has not spread elsewhere may give blood if the tumor has been excised and healed. For almost all other cancers (such as breast, brain, prostate, lung cancers), a person may now donate 1 year after diagnosis or date of last surgery, last chemotherapy or last radiation treatment (if treatment was needed). People who have been diagnosed with a blood cancer, such as leukemia or lymphoma, are not eligible to donate at the present time.
