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90-year-old has donated 25 gallons of blood

bakersfield.com — Margaret Delfino may be a 90-year-old great-grandmother, but that doesn't stop her from hauling out the big guns when it comes to blood donations. Including her most recent donation last Thursday, Delfino's total is now 25 gallons, about 20 times the amount of blood in the average human body.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 29, 2009

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  • a1cd, on 06/29/2009, -3/+184Achievement Unlocked
  • inactive, on 06/28/2009, -17/+135Finally a use for old people!
  • mattyboy555, on 06/29/2009, -3/+84ALL AT ONCE?!?!?!

    /stupid comment
  • Xwhy, on 06/28/2009, -2/+70Donating 10 gallons in a lifetime is an achievement to be admired.
    This is simply amazing.

    More people should donate and donate more often. The Red Cross is always in need of blood.
  • ryanmct, on 06/29/2009, -1/+43according to the red cross, you save three lives per pint of blood. That means this woman has, by herself, saved 600 people. That's really intense.
  • jesusluvsme, on 06/28/2009, -5/+42Somehow... I can't seem to make a smart remark
  • palehorse864, on 06/29/2009, -2/+36If you're stumped, just make a Chuck Norris joke.

    Chuck Norris once donated 25 gallons of blood... none of it his.
  • pegothejerk, on 06/29/2009, -1/+31That's a lot of cookies!
  • reesmaxwell, on 06/29/2009, -3/+33Can donate 1 pint every 8 weeks.
    52 weeks / 8 = 6.5 opportunities to donate each year.
    25 gallons * 8 (pints per gallon) = 200 pints.
    200 / 6.5 = 30 years and 10 months of donating.*
    * Assuming she never missed a donation opportunity.

    Hey, she could have started when she was 60 years old and reached this achievement! How many gallons are YOU going to donate by the time you are 90?

    (I've only donated about 20 times in my life, but this last year I've filled out a postcard that is sent to me when it's time to donate again, and I haven't missed an opportunity since. I'm much more open to going again if the harassment is coming from me instead of someone on the phone telling me there is an emergency need for my blood.)
  • TomGfromCanada, on 06/29/2009, -1/+25how many cookies and juice boxes is that?
  • Jordanjeter7, on 06/29/2009, -2/+26If you don't donate you might as well be killing three people.
  • AMD64MM, on 06/29/2009, -3/+25It's funny, but cruel.
  • WordsnCollision, on 06/28/2009, -7/+29She's a dream date... if you're a vampire.
  • 83JB, on 06/29/2009, -1/+21Everytime you don't donate, God masturbates a kitten.
  • drewski526, on 06/29/2009, -1/+20so what... i donated 25 gallons of semen
    </chuck norris>
  • jasdf, on 06/29/2009, -1/+20I think that my uncle is up to around 20 gallons and he is 70. He is O- which is the most rare type of blood. He has a bumper sticker on his car that keeps getting incremented every time I see it.
  • InfectedTuna, on 06/29/2009, -2/+21Hey you all want to hear something f*cked up. They won't let me donate blood because I've had the Anthrax vaccine when I was in the military. They said something to the effect of "we can't give your blood to other people because we don't know what effects the vaccine has in the long term and can't give it to unknowing patients."


    I standing there like WTF!!!!!! Well plus I was in South Korea for about eight months like 3 years ago. That I understand and don't feel bad about but I mean come on ...... lie to me or some sh*t.
  • asgardshill, on 06/29/2009, -2/+20I'd love to donate more, but the Red Cross is very picky about exactly whose blood is "good enough" for them. I was a regular donor until they turned me away because I lived in Britain during the mad cow scare.
  • miggyb, on 06/29/2009, -1/+18http://achievements.schrankmonster.de/Achievement. ...
  • reesmaxwell, on 06/29/2009, -0/+15Buried? Really? I'm not saying what the woman did wasn't amazing .. it was! I'm just pointing out that anyone who's under the age of 60 can go for a new record! I'm just giving the numbers here so others can compute how many gallons they might be able to donate by the time they're 90.

    Her story is inspiring to me. And knowing that I could give as much is inspiring as well... something to shoot for!
  • scuba7183, on 06/29/2009, -0/+15At once.
  • BicBall, on 06/29/2009, -0/+15I give blood fairly frequently, the second to last time i was asked if I wanted to give a double donation of red blood cells, they explained the process to me. Intrigued, I said yes. I liked how I wasn't weak after and I only had to give half as frequently to give the same volume of red blood cells. They used a system that I think was called ALYX or a similar acronym that pulls the blood out and separates it with a centrifuge. It saves the red blood cells in one bag and the rest in another bag. After a pint is drawn the bag thats not red blood cells is mixed with saline solution and returned to your body via the same needle with a reversed flow. It then repeats the process a second time.

    The most recent time I gave blood I gave it using the ALYX system again. The needle didn't go in too well but the nurse rotated it and my blood flowed better. When they went to restore the fluids back into my arm the fluids didn't go into the vein and just went into my arm. Within seconds it hurt like ***** and I had nearly a golf ball sized lump at the injection site. I've never freaked out so much in my life. I was ready to rip the needle out until a nurse stopped it. She brilliantly rolled some blood back in and restarted it and the _same thing_ happened. They aborted and I went home and rolled up in the fetal position. Never giving blood like that again.
  • diggdong, on 06/29/2009, -1/+15Wierd I must have Polycythemia Sperma.
  • inactive, on 06/29/2009, -0/+13AB- is the most rare type of blood, with only about 0.5% incidence in North America.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type

    It is so rare because it is a genetic mutation that started showing up in humans only about 800 years ago.
  • zyklon, on 06/29/2009, -0/+12If you donated every week, you'd look more like a zombie than human. By that, I mean you'd be very dead.
  • anexanhume, on 06/29/2009, -0/+12BUT THEN THOSE GUYS COULDN'T DONATE EITHER.
  • Lionhart, on 06/29/2009, -2/+13YEAH...IM PRETTY SURE THERE'S A MEDICAL REASON FOR YOU NOT BEING ALLOWED TO GIVE BLOOD VERY OFTEN.
  • ducksoup31, on 06/29/2009, -1/+12Good thing you commented!
  • austroLogi, on 06/29/2009, -1/+12Got my type-o hero card, have donated like 10 -20 times or so whenever they let me do another set of double reds. Very important thing to do.
  • relaxeder, on 06/29/2009, -1/+11A hero to a lot of people, I'm sure! Good for her.
  • melivorous, on 06/29/2009, -1/+11BUT WAIT, THERES MORE!!
  • cubs0110, on 06/29/2009, -1/+10dugg for setting good example
  • ExoBit, on 06/29/2009, -1/+10No no, its all in the way its worded.

    It's cruel, but funny.
  • PhrosTT, on 06/29/2009, -2/+10acts like this should give you a trump card for any organ donation waitlist.

    i also think committing to organ donation should move you up on the list.

    society needs to reward this kind of generosity.
  • johnno74, on 06/29/2009, -1/+9Its not the most rare, not by a long shot - O neg is the "universal" blood group. Anyone can safely be given O- blood, no matter what blood group they are.

    This is why they look after O- donors so well...
  • PsychoBrat, on 06/29/2009, -0/+7This is obviously an exceptional administrative error. I guarantee that this would not reflect most people's experience with the service.
  • sampath3, on 06/29/2009, -1/+8I think this is excellent donation that human can do in their life. Also must appreciate her.
  • mrpunman, on 06/29/2009, -0/+7***** the gay males?

    No thanks.
  • PsychoBrat, on 06/29/2009, -0/+7I still don't understand how people can get so upset about being screened out because they are in statistically (or otherwise) "high risk" groups. If you can donate, then great. If not, then bad luck. They're only trying to do the right thing by everyone.

    Whether or not the high risk groups are well-defined (as in the controversial case of actively homosexual males) is another issue entirely.
  • Twoje, on 06/29/2009, -0/+7Too bad you can only donate every 8 weeks. If I could do it every week, I think I'd be much more likely to do it, as it would become routine.
  • scuba7183, on 06/29/2009, -0/+6always a fun part of the donation process lol
  • pazimzadeh, on 06/29/2009, -0/+6hahaha the nurses can take care of that too while you're there giving blood
  • reportermilan, on 06/29/2009, -0/+6There are no age limits in USA for blood donors? In Europe you cannot donate blood if you are older than 65 years.
  • paintmeprettyx, on 06/29/2009, -0/+5Yeah, same here. I know its important, but its one of my biggest fears. You should have seen me the few times I had to get blood drawn at the hospital. I have a lot of respect for this woman.
  • 1337Czar, on 06/29/2009, -1/+6"bleep bloop"
  • oddtom, on 06/29/2009, -1/+6Calm down. It's just digg.
  • Codeman917, on 06/29/2009, -0/+5"Old people don't need companionship. They need to be isolated and studied so it can be determined what nutrients they have that might be extracted for our personal use."
  • awtripp, on 06/29/2009, -0/+5"Senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose. Don't you go dying on me!"
  • MarkOfTheDead, on 06/29/2009, -0/+5Holy ***** paragraph 2 freaked me out.

    They need to fix that thing.
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