LOS ANGELES – Oscar-winning actor and honorary Greek citizen Tom Hanks, 63, donated blood plasma for a second time to help in the fight against COVID-19, only months after recovering from the illness, Hanks posted on Instagram on May 27, Page Six reported.
Hanks’ Instagram post featured photos “of two bags of plasma, along with two other images documenting the process,” Page Six reported.
“Plasmatic on 3! 1,2,3 PLASMATIC! Hanx,” Hanks posted along with the photos on Instagram.
It was only a month ago that Hanks had donated plasma for the first time, posting about the experience which was “as easy as taking a nap,” Page Six reported.
Hanks and his Greek-American wife, Rita Wilson, also 63, “vowed after recovering from coronavirus that they would both donate,” Page Six reported.
“We have not only been approached, we have said, ‘Do you want our blood? Can we give plasma?’ And, in fact, we will be giving it now to the places that hope to work on what I would like to call the Hank-ccine,” Hanks said on NPR’s podcast Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, Page Six reported.
Hanks said “the couple learned that they had antibodies after their bout with COVID-19, which they were diagnosed with in March in Australia while Hanks was working on Baz Luhrmann’s now-delayed Elvis Presley biopic,” Page Six reported.
Hanks and Wilson “were briefly hospitalized before being released into isolation at an undisclosed Australian residence, where they stayed for weeks before returning to the U.S.,” Page Six reported.
Hanks has been vocal about his and Wilson’s battle with COVID-19, noting that his wife “had a much ‘tougher time’ battling the illness than himself,” Page Six reported.
Hanks said, “She had a much higher fever and she had some other symptoms. She lost her sense of taste and smell. She got absolutely no joy from food for a better part of three weeks,” Page Six reported.