Policeman donates his 400th pint on his birthday
A dedicated blood donor hits a significant milestone on his 60th birthday.
SHERWOOD resident and policeman Superintendent Mohamed Saeed Ally gave his 400th donation to the South African National Blood Services (SANBS) at Westwood Mall, on his 60th birthday recently.
Ally first donated as a high school learner, and other than sporadic breaks due to recovery from a serious accident, a shooting and a stabbing experienced in the line of duty, the superintendent has donated for more than 40 years.
“I started with Durban City Police in 1982 and had a break from donating following my major accident, when I came off my police bike at 170km/hr during a high-speed chase. I took three years to recover and then had another break after I was shot in Isipingo in 1999. I was stabbed and survived. I was shot and survived. It’s God’s will that I am still here.”
Ally has donated with reliable regularity since 2005, due to being primarily office-based, and is always happy to donate blood and blood by-products, as he knows it is for a good cause.
“I never thought about the pain, discomfort or inconvenience of donating blood. It is rather the passion to do something good, and I realise that I don’t have much money or things of high value to give back to the community, other than my blood and my life. The joy of giving back and saving another life motivates me even more, and I try to motivate other people to donate, too,” says Ally.
ALSO READ: Helping schools to stay eco-friendly
Ally has seen many ‘gruesome’ incidents in the carrying out of his duties.
“When serving in the police force, you see the worst of the worst. We see the need for blood and blood by-products when a serious accident happens and you see the amount of blood that is spilled.”
The policeman says he tries to undergo extra counselling after each incident as he does not want to become desensitised when dealing with victims or survivors of traumatic events. The policeman points out that each donation saves up to three lives, and with his 400 donations to date, he has saved 1 200 people with his gift of life.
The blood donor believes more needs to be done to educate and raise awareness about the importance and ease of donating.
“There are 60 million people in South Africa, and only 1.5 percent give blood. More education is needed for the public, and more promotion and blood drives need to be done to encourage people to donate blood.”
Did you know?
Only 1% of the population are regular blood donors. Should you like to save lives, you need to be between 16 and 75, weigh more than 50kg, lead a safe lifestyle, have a valid ID document, and be available to donate a unit of blood every three months. When you visit your local blood collection centre, the staff will undertake a full screening for the safety of both donor and recipient.
Donors who have A or AB blood groups are particularly suitable for the platelet donation programme, and SANBS is eager to increase this section of their donor base.
For more information, phone 0800 11 90 31 or go to www.sanbs.org.za.
For more from the Highway Mail follow us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also follow us on Instagram
