Cancer Survivor Reachers 100 Gallons in Blood Donations

Brotherly love inspired Dennis Schall to begin donating blood. “My brother was having surgery, he needed a couple units of blood, and I figured if he could go through that, I could certainly donate blood,” he recalled. That was in 1982. But Dennis kept donating – and donating. And on the final day of 2015, the lifelong Redlands resident will become the eighth LifeStream donor to reach 100 gallons in blood donations. But there was a time his chance to reach the milestone was in jeopardy. Schall, upon the recommendation of a friend, went in for a check-up and routine blood work in summer 2010. Not long after, he was on the operating table, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “I was lucky,” he said. “My cancer was caught early, in Stage 1. I didn’t require chemotherapy or radiation.” But he was deferred from donating blood for a year. Since being cleared to donate again, the 63-year-old hasn’t missed a beat. He resumed the schedule he’s maintained since 1990 – donating platelets up to 24 times per year at LifeStream’s San Bernardino Donor Center. “I keep doing it because I know I’m saving lives,” he said. “I’m lucky to be healthy enough to do it, there’s a need, and after keeping the same schedule 25 years, the nurses and LifeStream staff are like family to me,” he said.