When Sinclair Community College student Bill Rush donated his 30th gallon of blood in January, he brought along two special people with him in his heart.
“My mother passed away in December at age 88, and my daughter passed away five years ago from Breast Cancer. I dedicate all the blood I’ve donated in my life to their memories,” Rush said.
Rush, 72, said he has been donating blood since he was 20 years old and has never collected a penny for any of it.
“Some places give money for blood, but not the places I’ve gone,” Rush said. “(I donate) because it’s good for me and it’s good for several other people that I donate blood for.”
The Dayton Community Blood Center recently gave Rush a plaque to acknowledge his achievement. The CBC was able to keep track of the amount of blood Rush donated through manual records that were later converted into their computer system, according to its Public Relations Specialist Shelby Quinlivan.
“A donor giving 30 gallons of blood is a huge accomplishment,” Quinlivan said via e-mail. “Few donors hit the 30 gallon whole blood donation mark.”
Whole blood is blood that is drawn from the body from which no constituent, such as plasma or platelets, has been removed. Rush said he donates blood every eight weeks at the CBC and he said that donations, combined with keeping fit by auditing physical education classes at Sinclair, helped him avoid surgery after seriously injuring himself in a bicycle accident last year.
“I went to the hospital (a day after the wreck) and they took x-rays (that showed) I fractured all my ribs and punctured my lung,” Rush said. “They said that I’d have to have an operation in a couple days, but when they came back again and checked my lungs, they said it started to heal already and that they wouldn’t have to operate. They said, ‘I don’t know what you do, but whatever you do keep it up.’”
Edahn Isaak, associate medical director at the CBC, said while many donors have opined that giving blood has improved their health, he thinks a scientific study to prove it would be nice.
“While there is no definitive evidence that blood donation prolongs life, reduces heart disease, or is otherwise beneficial, donating does confer a feeling of altruism and euphoria, and that is a benefit to a donor’s state of mind,” Isaak said via e-mail. “If you are not a donor, give it a try, and you will see what I mean.”