The faithful blood donor

Whatever happened to . . .

By John Barry, Times Staff Writer
Published October 21, 2007

"Giving is in his blood"; July 9, 2006

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/09/Floridian/Giving_is_in_his_blood.shtml

THE STORY: Wally Edington, an 85-year-old Pinellas Park retiree, donated his 560th pint of blood to Florida Blood Services. That equaled 70 gallons of A-positive. He had come by every two weeks to donate platelets, the cells that make blood clot, a staple of cancer therapy. Even when he had surgery for prostate cancer, he didn't miss a donation. Florida Blood Services printed his name on a 55-gallon oil drum.

FROM THE STORY: In all these years, Wally Edington has never known any of those thousands of accident victims or cancer patients who survived because they got his blood. Except for one. He was living in Maryland then. He got a call from George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. They had a man who was in bad shape. He needed A-positive blood. Could Wally rush right over? "I was going to my cousin's wedding in Bethesda, but I went to the hospital," Wally says. "The man worked for Associated Press. He had tried to commit suicide. He lived. He probably hates me."

THE REST OF THE STORY: A few months after the story in the St. Petersburg Times was published, Wally Edington took ill and was placed at the Bon Secours nursing home in St. Petersburg, where his wife, Sue, already lived. He never gave blood again. During a recent visit, he was as charming as ever, but was in bed, and had lost a lot of weight. "Do you remember your blood donations?" he was asked. "No," he said. He wasn't sure where he was, or where his wife was. "No one tells me," Wally said. When asked how he felt, he smiled and said, "Top notch!" He gave a thumbs up. "Thanks for coming."

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Wally Edington is among a generation of faithful donors whose steady departure from the scene has caused the great blood shortages now chronically plaguing blood banks. "They are that World War II-era generation that is either dying off or no longer able to give," said J.B. Gaskins, vice president of donor systems for Florida Blood Services. "They were a staple of our blood supply. They haven't been replaced."

[Last modified October 23, 2007, 10:33:23]