[This post was written by Dawn Lunsford, one of our Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs)]
I had the pleasure of speaking with a gentleman the other night, scheduling him for an appointment to donate blood at his local blood center. He was quite conversational and pleasant to talk to. During our conversation, he asked me if he was going to be awarded anything for donating this time around. I explained to him how the donor loyalty program for his particular blood center worked, as well as how he could go online to use the points he had earned to purchase things like gift cards, t-shirts, and other merchan
dise.
He then told me that somewhere along the way he lost track of how much blood he had actually donated over the course of his lifetime. He used to donate with another blood center, and they would give him coffee mugs for reaching certain milestones while donating. The last mug he received was when he had reached his 40th gallon of blood. (He displays this mug proudly among his other collectables.) I thought, “40 gallons? WOW! That’s a lot!” Of course, I thanked him profusely for his commitment to saving lives. Then, naturally, our conversation ended and I hung up the phone.
Later that evening, I got to thinking about just how much 40 gallons truly is. That is a heck of a lot of blood. And from what the gentleman had said, he reached that point some time ago. So just to put things in perspective, 40 gallons equals 320 pints* or 8 large 5-gallon water drums. To me, giving that much of yourself to help others qualifies this man as a true hero.
Have you met any heroes like that?
*Each pint has the ability to save up to 3 lives, meaning this single donor may have saved around 960 lives before ever speaking with Dawn. Now, he has saved at least 963 lives. From everyone here on the Incept team, thank you for your dedication to saving others. ~ Stephen
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That soulds amazing that someone would donate that much blood though i dont know how possible it really is. A person can only give a pint of blood up to eight times a year. Once every six weeks…That means this man has been giving blood every six weeks for tha past 37-38 years. And you cant even donate blood until you are atleast 17. that would put him at about 54 years old. I dont really see how that is possible.
Great point Cassie, you know your facts. Keep in mind that a lot of blood centers don’t have an upper age limit, as long as you’re in good health you can give blood. So it’s very possible, in fact I know I talk to some very dedicated blood donors over the age of 50! And thanks for reading my post & adding your comment!