Peg Blumer, Director of Donor Resources,
and Le Roy Murrell - July 6, 2004
Every
three seconds, someone in the United States needs a blood
donation. For that reason, the staff of the Northern California
Community Blood Bank in Eureka are overjoyed to have Le Roy
Murrell as a donor.
Murrell, 62, has been donating since the age of 18 when he
was in the Army. " I give just as often as they let me,"
Murrell said Monday morning before donating his 400th unit
of blood to the Northern California Community Blood Bank.
Blood Bank Administrator Tom Schallert said Murrell is one
of the top blood donors in the United States. "He is
the kind of donor all blood banks want," Schallert said.
"He has saved a lot of lives over the years and does
not even know who they are." Since donating blood as
often as he has for the past 44 years, Murrell estimated that
he had hit his 400th donation years ago. "This is just
the 400th time at this blood center," he said.
The Northern California Blood Bank services six hospitals
from Garberville to Crescent City. The blood bank's walls
are lined with names and photographs of frequent donors. Murrell's
photograph was one of the first ot go up. To date, he has
given 50 gallons at the Northern California Community Blood
Bank. The human body, Schallert said has between 10 to 12
pints.
The donor of the day received more than just the usual cookies
and juice. The staff presented him with balloons, a license
plate holder, a T-shirt and a cake. Sandy Murrell, the wife
of Le Roy, said "I am proud of him, really, really proud
of him".
Peg Blumer, Director of Donor Resources, states that the
country is losing some of it's biggest blood donors, World
War II veterans, at the rate of almost 2000 donors a day.
"We need to educate the young folks and let them know
how important it is to donate blood, especially with the aging
baby boomer population," Blumer said. "People like
Le Roy are instrumental to us." Blumer said now that
the colleges and high schools are out for summer, it will
be critical for people to donate. "The summer months
are by far the toughest," she said. "We need people
to make an extra effort this summer."
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