I've donated regularly almost every 6 weeks for the past 32 years. I can't calculate how many gallons that is, but they greet me as Old Timer at our local blood bank. Unlike most of the rest of the country which uses the Red Cross, Puget Sound has its own blood program. Nice folks. I've worked in volunteer health capacities where I see the benefit of a steady supply of blood. Its easy enough to do, and no good reason not to for me.
277 Pints. 34.6 Gallons. I think.
Then I would guess I've given about 32-33 gallons. Yow, it sounds like alot now. The every 6 week thing works pretty well if you schedule your next appointment when you're leaving the last one. But there have been occasional interrupts for vacation, business travel, babies born etc. Things happen. The one thing I've resisted is donating by apheresis, which is where they hook you up and they draw out platelets instead of whole blood - platelets being the most commonly used blood product in ERs etc. You can donate platelets more often but it takes longer and I have a problem with needles and mentally I just can't get past the thought of being hooked up that way. Basically though my blood type isn't exceedingly rare or suited to platelet draws, so I think its ok not to do apheresis.
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