Edmonton platelet donor inspired by late sister reaches rare milestone

Canadian Blood Services promotes that with every donation, a life could be saved. In that case, one dedicated Edmonton donor has helped save hundreds upon hundreds.

Harry Tostowaryk is what you might call a regular. He’s donated platelets 1,000 times.

Every second Saturday, 24 times a year, he spends about an hour and a half in one of the clinic’s chairs, giving of himself — literally.

“Well I’m lucky,” Tostowaryk said. “I’m healthy, my veins are good and as long as I can continue, I’ll keep continuing to give.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Well I'm lucky," Tostowaryk said. "I'm healthy, my veins are good and as long as I can continue, I'll keep continuing to give."

In February, the 57-year-old donated for the 1,000th time, joining an illustrious club.

READ MORE: Calgary blood donors called heroes by local cancer survivor 

“I actually thought I’d never reach that milestone,” he said. “I remember years ago, I hit maybe 300 or 400. I never thought I’d hit more than 500.”

“One-thousand milestone donors are quite rare in Edmonton,” said Nicole McMahon with Canadian Blood Services. “There are four who have hit that milestone; the first of which was one of our dedicated plasma donors in 2011.”

READ MORE: 5 things to know about donating blood 

While he won’t soon forget his 1,000th donation, Tostowaryk still remembers his first one, 37 years ago.

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“I was driving in the city and I heard one of the local radio stations had a blood donor clinic drive, so me and a couple friends went down and donated blood,” he said. “That was back in 1980.”

He’s kept it up all these years, not for the recognition, but because he’s O negative — the universal blood type. He made the switch from donating blood to platelets about seven years in, in memory of his late sister.

“In the spring of ’81, she was diagnosed with a tumour, a brain tumour and she fought a seven-year battle with cancer.

“During that battle, one of the times when I went to see her in the hospital, I noticed she was receiving some platelets or plasma — I don’t know what it was, but I noticed it — so I thought I’d continue on and do that type of donation,” Tostowaryk said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "During that battle, one of the times when I went to see her in the hospital, I noticed she was receiving some platelets or plasma — I don't know what it was, but I noticed it — so I thought I'd continue on and do that type of donation," Tostowaryk said.

For Tostowaryk’s 1,005th donation, his daughter was by his side. He’s been an inspiration to both his children, who make regular donations themselves.

“It’s pretty cool, especially when they find out what blood type they are,” Tostowaryk said.

READ MORE: Could you save his life? Edmonton boy needs to find stem cell match 

“Often, when we have a donor like this, their family is going to get on board,” McMahon said. “They believe in the cause because Harry believes in the cause.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Often, when we have a donor like this, their family is going to get on board," McMahon said. "They believe in the cause because Harry believes in the cause."

Tostowaryk’s next goal is 1,300. He hopes to get there by the time he’s 65. Until then, he’ll keep donating to Canadian Blood Services every couple of weeks to inch closer to his target, saving one life at a time.

As of March, 18 people had reached the 1,000th donation mark in Canada. To put that in perspective, while the need for blood is constant, during the month of May, Canadian Blood Services needs 700 new donors in Edmonton to meet patient demand.