For close to 36 years, Bill Derbyshire has been a regular at the Canadian Blood Services Clinic on Grand Marais. On Saturday when Derbyshire, 64, of LaSalle, walks through the doors to the clinic it will mark his 200th blood donation.
“You give four or five times a year and it adds up pretty quickly,” Derbyshire said. “When I gave my 100th donation there was a guy giving his 200th and I remember thinking ‘I wonder if I will reach my 200th,’ and here I am.”
Derbyshire started giving blood after hearing the local clinic urgently needed blood. He has a rare AB negative blood which only 0.6 per cent of the population have.
“They said we need blood really bad,” he said. “I had never given blood before. I was laid off from Ford at the time and thought ‘well I’ve got nothing else to do I might as well give blood.’”
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