Gamston man has given blood 104 times – enough to fill a car’s fuel tank

DAVID Hardwick could fill a car's fuel tank with the amount of blood he's donated over the last 47 years.

The 65-year-old estimates he has given blood at least 104 times since he first began attending sessions while at university in 1965.

His efforts over the years means he has donated more than 50 litres of blood – or 11 gallons.

But Mr Hardwick, of Honister Close, Gamston, thinks nothing of his achievement.

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"To be honest it's a routine and just something that I do," he said.

"It doesn't really cross my mind that I've donated over 100 times. I don't think what might happen to my blood – I'm just aware it goes to good use."

Mr Hardwick's son, Jonathan, 25, has also become a blood donor, while one of his daughters, Gemma, 33, received a blood transfusion as a child following an accident.

Mr Hardwick, who grew up in Mansfield, was presented with an award by NHS Blood and Transplant last year in recognition of the scale of his donating.

He said: "It's nice to be recognised but I would continue doing it with or without the recognition. That's what most blood donors would say.

"We don't get into it for the plaudits, we just do it."

The number of young people registering to become blood donors in Notts has dropped by more than a third in the last two years.

More young people getting tattoos and piercings is thought to have contributed to the dip, as anyone who has a tattoo cannot give blood for at least four months afterwards.

NHS Blood and Transplant say the decline needs to be addressed now, to avoid a shortage of supplies of life-saving blood in the years to come.

Mr Hardwick visited the South Notts Academy, the old Dayncourt School, in Radcliffe-on-Trent, this week, to speak with students about becoming stem cell, blood, and organ donors.

His visit was in support of blood cancer charity the Anthony Nolan Trust's Register and Be a Lifesaver campaign.