Jacksonville native Roger North, 79, gave blood occasionally until his 9-year-old granddaughter Tessa-Lynn developed leukemia.

Her mother would sit all day at the hospital waiting for someone to donate the platelets she needed to fight the disease.

Roger said to himself, “I can do that.” At age 59 he became a regular platelet donor, spending several hours every two weeks donating platelets at the South Jacksonville Donor Center near where he worked, according to One Blood.

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