Tauranga resident Ford Saunders is just one of 115,000 blood donors in NZ who are being thanked publicly during National Blood Donor Week, which finishes on Sunday. Anyone can book in to donate by calling 0800 GIVE BLOOD.
So far, he has donated blood or plasma 32 times.
Just one of his donations has the potential to save up to three lives, so this means Ford has potentially helped save up to nearly 100 lives.
It’s estimated that every 18 minutes somewhere in New Zealand someone needs lifesaving blood or plasma.
While every whole blood donation does have the potential to save up to three lives, red blood cells only have a shelf life of 35 days, and platelets which are important for helping stop bleeding, need to be transfused within seven days.
The New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science is putting its full support behind National Blood Donor Week which runs until Sunday June 18.
The National Blood Donor Week is held in June as June 14 is the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the ABO blood group system. NZ Blood Service provides a critical and essential role in providing the blood products for New Zealand’s most vulnerable patients.
About the NZIMLS – NZ Institute of Medical Laboratory Scientists