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Don Flint donates his 24th gallon of blood
At 83 years old, motorcycle-riding, piano roll-collecting, model boat-building, scuba-diving Don Flint has also just donated his 24th gallon of blood.
Starting back in 1977, and even before that while in the service, Flint has donated more than 192 times.
According to Flint, one can donate every 56 days and he goes every time he can. He gave his last pint that put him to 24 gallons on Dec. 27.
"There was a time where the four churches in town that hold the donations had their schedules a little off," the longtime Greencastle resident said. "I had to go down to Terre Haute in order to maintain my schedule, but I talked to someone and got the schedule here in town back on track."
Donors can give a pint per donation and each pint given can save up to three lives according to UC Irvine's Blood Donor Center. That means Flint has potentially saved 576 lives in the past 38 years.
"In 2000 I had a slight heart attack and that set me back a little," Flint said. "In 2005 I had a double-knee replacement and that also set me back, but other than these instances I have donated regularly."
It all started when Flint was working at IBM in Greencastle. The company held a blood drive, and he thought, "Why not?"
"It's just a thing with me now," he said. "I got started and now it's just kind of my thing. I just gotta do it."
He says the process doesn't bother him at all, though there came some concern a few years ago that his veins were scarring over.
"Sure the veins are getting a little bit scarred over, but they have sharp needles that poke right on through," Flint said with a chuckle. "Maybe I'm just getting numb as old as I'm getting."
He has saved all 192 of his "I gave blood today!" stickers on a board, along with each of his gallon cards that tell the exact dates of when he has given. The Red Cross also gives small pins to signify each gallon of blood a donor has donated, and Flint keeps this on his wall with the other memorabilia.
One of Flint's friends asked him where he ranked when it came to blood donors in the state of Indiana. So he got in touch with Steve Dieringer of the Indiana Blood Center.
According to an e-mail sent to Flint from Dieringer, he is in the top .001 percent of donors who have donated blood with the Indiana Blood Center.
Whenever a person goes in to give blood, there are several things that must be tested before they can give.
"It's like a mini-physical," Flint said. "They check your iron levels, blood pressure, temperature and pulse."
So far his vitals are good and he continues to donate.
His next donation is scheduled for Feb. 10 -- just a few days too late to fall during January, National Blood Donor Month. He has no plans of stopping in the near future.
"I'm gonna keep doing this," Flint said, "until they tell me to stop."