Florida man donates 100 gallons of blood

(AP) Florida man donates 100 gallons of blood
LAKE PARK, Fla.
A South Florida man has reached a rare milestone. He’s donated 100 gallons of blood.

The Palm Beach Post (https://bit.ly/10JVcwN) reports 84-year-old Harold Mendenhall started giving blood on July 7, 1977. Last month, he logged his 100th gallon.

Mendenhall started donating blood when his wife, Frankie, was diagnosed with breast cancer. When she died seven years later, Mendenhall says he was lost. He stopped by the blood bank on his way home from work. Soon he was donating six gallons a year.

He gives platelets rather than whole blood, which means he can give two pints per donation instead of one and can give every two weeks instead of eight weeks.

Mendenhall says giving blood helped him cope with the loss of his wife and, later, two sons.

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Information from: The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, http://www.pbpost.com