Fresenius Kabi Announces Inductees to Blood Donation Hall of Fame

LAKE ZURICH, Ill., November 14, 2017 – Fresenius Kabi announced today it has inducted 12 people and one canine (in memorium) into the 2018 Fresenius Kabi Blood Donation Hall of Fame.  For nearly twenty years, Fresenius Kabi has partnered with blood centers across the country to recognize individuals who demonstrate unwavering commitment and passion for donating blood and encourage blood donation. Many volunteer their time to the centers where they donate, helping staff with recruiting and other activities. The United States blood supply relies on blood donors to assure a safe and reliable supply of lifesaving blood and blood components to treat patients. 

“The U.S. blood supply depends on the commitment of a compassionate community of recruiters, sponsors, donors, collectors, technicians, scientists and drivers. Since 1998, Fresenius Kabi has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with blood centers in the U.S. to assure that blood is available to patients when it’s needed most,” said Dean Gregory, president, medical devices at Fresenius Kabi USA. “Few better demonstrate the importance and power of working together than those inducted annually into the Fresenius Kabi Donation Hall of Fame. This year’s class is a wonderful example of heroes in our communities. Fresenius Kabi is honored to recognize them.”

Here are this year’s inductees and some background on why they were recognized: 

• Susan Leugers donates at the Community Blood Center in Dayton, OH. She launched the first blood drive in her town in honor and loving memory of her daughter, who passed away due to cancer. By her second drive just six months later, she hit 115 percent of her collection goal. Susan has donated more than 130 times to date.
• Jeremy K. Evans donates at the American Red Cross Woodland Hills Donor Center in Woodland Hills, CA. He was recognized as not only a blood donor, having given more than 500 units, but also for his work as a medical dispatcher/EMT. He is deployed as an Army Medic Healthcare Specialist for the California Army National Guard.
• Dwayne Hutcheson donates at OneBlood, Titusville Donor Center in Titusville, FL. He has been donating whole blood for 26 years and has given more than 133 gallons of blood, platelets and plasma. Dwayne has organized many blood drives and has educated more than 1,000 people in his community about the importance of donating blood.
• Thomas Van-Dorn donates at the American Red Cross at the Fullerton Donor Center in Fullerton, CA. He started donating whole blood in 1987 and became a platelet donor 10 years later. He gave his 900th donation in July 2016, recently provided his 984th unit and is on track to donate his 1,000th unit in February 2018.
• Lisa Truitt donates at Carter BloodCare in Bedford, TX. She has been hosting blood drives for more than nine years. To date, she has helped collect more than 500 units of blood and saved more than 1,500 lives. To honor her late son Will, who passed away after a motorcycle accident, she started hosting more drives each year to promote blood donation and motorcycle safety.
• Thane Hill donates at Bonfils Blood Center in Denver, CO. He is the blood donation champion at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.  Through his efforts, the school has collected more than 3,200 units and saved more than 9,500 lives.
• Bobby Daquara donates at New York Blood Center in Brooklyn, NY. He has been hosting blood drives at his restaurant since 2009. After his daughter passed away from leukemia in 2013, Bobby has run blood drives seven times a year and has collected more than 1,700 donations.
• Josh Beard donates at Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center in Davenport, IA. His first son struggled with the effects of Rh disease and received a blood transfusion. Last year his second child, at just 23 weeks old, received in-utero blood transfusions for the same complications. Josh now donates every 56 days and hosts a blood drive every year.
• Felix Lilly donates at American Red Cross Portland Donor Center in Portland, OR. When he was 10 years old, he needed blood and platelet donations to heal from a broken wrist and femur. When he was old enough, he started to donate platelets — a triple every two weeks and 24 times in a rolling calendar year. To date, he’s given more than 183 units of platelets. 
• Bob Grant donates at Oklahoma Blood Institute in Oklahoma City, OK. He started giving blood 40 years ago when he learned about a girl who was born with a life-threatening kidney disease. Now, at age 85, Bob gives platelets every other Friday. He has given nearly 70 gallons of blood, adding up to more than 550 platelet and blood donations.
• George Soper donates at OneBlood, Rockledge Donor Center in Rockledge, FL. He started donating blood when he was 20 years old, at the start of his 23-year career in the U.S. Navy. George still donates platelets every two weeks, 24 times a year. Over 26 years, he’s donated a total of 141 gallons of blood and helped save approximately 3,384 lives in the process.
• Joshua Ford donates at American Red Cross at the Durham Blood Donation Center in Durham, NC. He has been donating for 10 years, since he was only 18 years old. Joshua drives about an hour each direction to come to the center. He was recently selected as a bone marrow match for a patient and happily agreed to donate.
• In Memoriam: E-I Sellon, a Golden Retriever, donated at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. For more than six years this rescue dog helped other dogs in ill health through the canine blood donor program at the university.  By the time he passed away this spring at age nine, he had given 26 times, helping to save approximately 70 other dogs.

Fresenius Kabi celebrates all blood donors for their strength, experience, commitment and caring -- traits we strive to bring to our work every day. This year’s inductees cover a wide range of ages and each has a unique story to share. These stories have been compiled into a specialized product-dating calendar used by blood centers throughout the country.

About the need for blood and blood donation 

According the American Red Cross, approximately 36,000 units of blood are needed every day in the U.S. One accident victim may need up to 100 units of red blood cells.  Nearly 7,000 units of platelets and 10,000 units of plasma are needed daily and nearly 21 million blood components are transfused each year in the U.S.

When donating blood, people give a pint of whole blood, or donate a specific blood component via an automated system. With whole blood, further processing is required to separate the unit into its therapeutic components—typically red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. When donating on an automated system, donors typically give the same amount of blood, but more of the component that is in highest demand depending on their donor characteristics and blood type. A total of 30 million blood components are transfused annually in the U.S. To make a blood donation or to learn more about donating blood, please contact your local blood center. 

Nominations accepted

Fresenius Kabi invites nominations of blood donors or other individuals who have demonstrated a commitment and passion for donating blood or encouraging blood donation. Anyone can submit a nomination and there is no limit to the number of nominations per blood center. A person may only be inducted into the Fresenius Kabi Donation Hall of Fame once.

Nominations for the 2019 Fresenius Kabi Donation Hall of Fame are due by June 16, 2018. Submit your nomination online at: www.fresenius-kabi.com/us/company/donation-hall-of-fame.

About Fresenius Kabi

Fresenius Kabi (www.fresenius-kabi.com/us) is a global health care company that specializes in lifesaving medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition. The company’s products and services are used to help care for critically and chronically ill patients. The company’s U.S. headquarters is in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The company’s global headquarters is in Bad Homburg, Germany.