WINNIPEG — A Manitoba man has reached an impressive milestone – donating blood 200 times.
For the past 30 years, Brian Powney has donated blood whenever he is able too – which is about every 56 days. It started back when he was a 17-year-old high school student in Dauphin. He said the Canadian Red Cross came to his high school to tell people about giving blood.
He said he went home after school to talk to his parents about it.
"They both thought it was an excellent idea, a great way to give back to the community," he said, adding his dad agreed to take him to a clinic.
"So the two of us went and we both donated, and that was the start of it."
Powney donated blood sporadically after that for the next few years. But things changed for Powney when his sister-in-law had to go for surgery and needed blood donations.
"Then all of a sudden, it clicked that if somebody had not donated blood, she would never have had her surgery, she wouldn't have survived and wouldn't be with us," he said. "That is what made it real."
Powney said after that, he became a lot more consistent in donating blood, and soon he was starting to meet donation benchmarks.
"But as the numbers started to add up, then it became more of a drive, more of a mission," he said.
"When I hit 100, I kind of set a goal that I wanted to hit 200 for sure before health or whatever would cause me to not be able to donate anymore."
Though he has reached his goal of 200 donations, he says he plans to keep on donating as long as he is able to.
"I realize that eventually I will not be able to donate anymore, and I'm hoping that by sharing my story, it will inspire somebody else to say, 'that's a really good thing to do. I want to do something similar. I want to get back as well,'" Powney said.
Manitobans can book an appointment to donate blood online or by calling 1-888-236-6283.
-With files from CTV's Maralee Caruso
