Siblings Gary and Donna Hardy have saved hundreds of lives over more than four decades thanks to their whole blood donations.
One pint of blood can save up to three lives. Blood donors help patients of all ages, including accident and burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients and those battling cancer, according to the American Red Cross. Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood.
Gary, 76, has been donating blood since 1968 when he was stationed in Okinawa as a 21-year-old. Donna, 70, donated her first pint in May 1975. The pair donated blood on Tuesday at the American Red Cross Antelope Valley Chapter on Avenue P in Palmdale.
It wasn’t the first time the brother and sister donated blood together. A former Ledger Gazette photographer captured them donating blood on Sept.12, 1978, during a bloodmobile visit at Antelope Valley Medical Center. Gary was at three gallons of blood at the time; Donna had donated her 13th pint of blood.
Gary’s pint of whole blood Tuesday was his 198th pint over his 55 years of donating; that’s two pints shy of 25 gallons. (One gallon equals eight pints.) The former owner of Hardy’s Liquor in Quartz Hill missed some donation opportunities after he was stabbed one time and hit in the face with a two-by-four another time. He also caught mycobacterium avium complex and couldn’t donate for two years until he was cleared by a doctor.
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