Local Bill Dodge Donates 100 Gallons of Blood

Riverside resident of 21 years, Bill Dodge donated his 100th gallon of blood on Aug. 30, and he already has his next blood donation appointment scheduled. Although he has donated whole blood before, Dodge now donates through the process of apheresis which is different from taking whole blood. Each appointment, he donates twice. "Might as well put another needle in me," he shared while chuckling. Dodge, now at age seventy-five, started donating in the early 80s and has not stopped yet. "When I saw the number one guy with fifty gallons, I thought maybe I can reach that," he said. "It's really not that much," he shared after explaining how much blood banks really need. When he donated every week, he didn't like the way it made him feel so he started donating every other week, instead. Even though he has donated one hundred gallons of blood, he still isn't a big fan of needles. "I have yet to watch my own stick," Dodge mentioned, "it makes me sick." He said that it is an overall easy process, "after a while, you get used to what's going to take place." Dodge goes to the San Bernardino Blood Bank every time he donates and requests the same people to work with him. "I look forward to it," he said after he shared that the people there are like family to him. Every other week, Dodge takes about an hour and half out of his day to donate blood. "There's a need for what I have," so he donates.