Port Moody's Derek Wilson is preparing for a milestone donation on Thursday, when he'll lay back, put out his arm and give blood for the 300th time.
Wilson started giving in 1970, when he was a student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., as a way of repaying his father's first gift to him.
"When I was born, I had a medical condition that required surgery and, back in those days, in the late '40s, there was no blood collection program like we have today," Wilson said. "So either a family member had to donate blood that was needed or you had to buy it."
Wilson's dad donated the blood he needed for that surgery and it's why he later became a donor himself. After he graduated from university, Wilson moved to Montreal, where he continued to donate at a clinic near his Canadian National Railway office.
There was a two-year hiatus while Wilson worked in Zambia but when he returned and moved to Sudbury, Ont. he picked it up again.
By 1980, Wilson had moved to Winnipeg for work. "That's where I really got into it seriously," he said, dropping in to a clinic every two months over a two-year period.
But during that time, Wilson's hemoglobin levels weren't always high enough to donate and he was rejected a few times after the initial screening.
That's when Red Cross staff suggested Wilson join the plasmapharesis program, in which blood is removed, separated and the hemoglobin returned to the donor while the plasma is donated. Because the plasma component of blood is replaced quickly within the body, those in the program can donate every two weeks instead of every two months.
Wilson picked up the pace and continued when he was transferred to Edmonton, where he was donating every two weeks for nearly five years.
"That was an opportunity to really crank up my score," Wilson said.
When he moved to the Lower Mainland 18 years ago and found the only place to donate plasma was at the main clinic in Vancouver, Wilson went back to donating blood every two months.
Despite his years of donating whether it's donating blood, plasma or a combination of the two it's no small feat getting to 300, said Trudi Goels of Canadian Blood Services.
"With Derek, he's been donating for over 40 years, which is a lifetime commitment he's made to helping patients," Goels said, noting the injured victims of a single car accident can need 50 units of blood that's 50 donations.
Of Canadian Blood Services' 400,000 active donors, only six reached the 300 mark last year. "He's in a very elite group," she said.
Wilson has no plans to stop after his milestone donation this week.
"I saw an obituary in the Vancouver Sun about two years ago and it was for a fella who claimed to have the highest number of blood donations in Canada. It was something like 525," he said, "so I have a long way to go."
Canadian Blood Services' Trudi Goels said there are several appointments available for the April 23 clinic at the Mundy Park Christian Fellowship (2600 Austin Ave., Coquitlam) and asked people use the GiveBlood app or visit www.blood.ca to book an appointment.
@spayneTC
