The average person’s body contains about 1.5 gallons of blood. Lillian Bloodworth of Gulf Breeze, Florida, whose last name roughly translates to “precious blood,” donated 23 gallons of it in more than 50 years. Now 92-year-old Lillian recalls that when she first became a donor and her last name appeared on labels attached to blood tubes, many asked if it was really her name.
She understood the importance of donation from an early age, when she was sick with pneumonia and her older brother donated blood for her. And in 1966, she underwent surgery and blood transfusion to her eldest son, and she thought that she should return the blood to the bank, and began to donate it every 56 days. This continued until her 85th birthday, when the blood bank announced that she needed blood herself more than he did, and she stopped donating. But the tradition was continued by her second son, who already donated 22 gallons of blood. Mother and son have saved the lives of hundreds of Americans.
Newspaper headline:
Family donation