Saturday, January 30, 2010
Most whole blood donations - world record set by
Phil Baird
CESSNOCK, Australia -- Phil Baird, 75,
donated blood for the 231st time at the Australian Red Cross
Blood Service Donormobile on Christmas Eve - setting the new
world record for the Most
whole blood donations.
Photo: Life saver- Phil Baird, giving
his 231st whole blood donation. (enlarge
photo)
Mr. Baird made his first blood donation
at 19 years old when he enlisted with the National Service,
and was named Cessnock City Citizen of the Year in 2009.
“I have been told that I have donated
more blood than is in the whole human body." ...You certainly
have done, Phil. Your cumulative donation of 103.96 litres
is about 21 times the 5 litres of blood in an adult.
“This world record for the Most
whole blood donations is something I am very proud
of. “I am not a hero or anything like that – it would just
be so good if more people gave blood, because supplies are
always low and blood is so badly needed.”
Since 1954, Phil Baird, 75, has
given 450mls of blood every 12 weeks – an astonishing 103,950mls
of his much-needed O-positive blood. On Christmas Eve, Mr
Baird gave his world record-breaking gift to Cessnock Blood
Bank – his 231st blood donation.
The previous Guinness world record for the
Most
whole blood donations was Robert Hall from
New Zealand, who has made 177 donations.
Mr Baird recalled his first donation,
when he was doing his National Service as an infantryman at
Ingleburn in Sydney. “A corporal lined us all up and told
us we would all be giving blood – that was it,” he said. “There
really was not very much to it."
Mr. Baird made his 228th whole blood
donation in April last year, believed to be a world record
at the time, but this effort not able to be accepted by Guinness
World Records because the (wrong) system employed was to include
all types of blood donors under the banner of just “Blood
Donations”.
After Mr. Baird explained the difference
between whole blood donations and apheresis (plasma and platelet
removal), Guinness World Records has created a new category
for “Whole Blood Donations”. “Over a considerable period of
time I explained to Guinness World Records that there were
two major differences in blood donations,” Mr. Baird said.
“One is apheresis, which is when a small
amount of blood is taken from the donor and processed through
a machine that extracts valuable plasma and platelets. The
blood is then transferred back into the body of the donor.
“Because there is only minimal blood loss, an
aphaeresis donor can donate every two weeks if they wish,
as there is no fear of anaemia.
“The other type of blood donor is a whole
blood donor, who gives 450mls of blood each time they donate.
Consequently a whole blood donor can only donate once every
twelve or thirteen weeks (approximately four times a year).
If they donated more frequently they could suffer from anaemia.”
Subscribe to our RSS
feed to receive updates.
Related world records: Modern
Society world records
Biggest
support for
charity-Justin Timberlake sets world record
Biggest
individual supporter of schools-world record set by Husnu
M. Ozyegin
Saturday, January 30, 2010
|