Midland blood donor saves 1200 lives by rolling up his sleeve

WITHOUT even knowing it, Graeme Emery has saved more than 1000 lives.

The Swan View resident has made 400 blood donations that have equated to about 190 litres of blood used to save the lives of 1200 people.

Shocked by the impact his fortnightly donations have had, Mr Emery is using National Blood Donor Week from September 2-8 to encourage others to roll up their sleeve too.

A frequent donor at the Midland Blood Service, Mr Emery urged people to start donating blood to meet the need of people requiring blood transfusions and treatment for cancer.

“Just get in and have a go at donating blood,” he said.

“There is nothing to be scared of.”

Having started donating blood in the 1970s for “no particular reason”, Mr Emery said the need for people to donate became more apparent when family members of his needed blood.

“My sister unfortunately died from cancer just before Christmas last year but she needed blood for her treatment,” he said.

“My brother has also needed blood transfusions to treat anaemia.”

Having donated blood for more than 40 years, Mr Emery said he wasn’t aware of how many people he had helped and was shocked at the number.

“I knew I had made 400 donations but had never converted it to litres or made the connections with how many people it would reach,” he said.

“There’s such a great need for blood donors and unfortunately there’s not a lot of people who do it.”