Why one man donated 600 litres of blood
Bob Goninon, a Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteer firefighter, has donated enough blood to fill a 600-litre tanker.
Individuals can only donate plasma and platelets every fortnight, and blood every 12 weeks.
It has taken Mr Goninon 51 years and 700 donations of blood and plasma to reach the milestone.
“Originally I had a personal problem where on a regular basis I would have nosebleeds that would run for anywhere up to three hours,” he said.
“One particular day, one just didn’t want to abate, and I was going through towels and an ambulance was called and I was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital … where a doctor could start plugging my nose.
“At the end of that process he strongly advised that I bottled this product, preferably not straight from my nose, so the blood bank is where I went.”
Though Mr Goninon said donating blood helped stem the nosebleeds for quite some time, he decided to continue donating through a desire to help others.
“I think any emergency services worker will agree that from time to time you see a lot of situations such as road trauma, house fires, emergency in the home, cancer patients – all of these people who unfortunately during a certain time in their life require blood,” he said.
“And the only way that they can get that product to enhance their quality of life is via a donor.”
According to the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, a third of Aussies will need blood or blood products in their lifetime.
But only one in 30 donate each year.
“We need more donors, I’m not getting any younger, so we need the younger brigade to start stepping up,” Mr Goninon said.
Though he recently made his 703rd donation, Mr Goninon said it wasn’t about achieving milestones, but about doing his part for the community.
Image: cfavic / Instagram