Frederick Lucardie’s blood type is common. His commitment to giving it is not.
The Carrollwood resident reached a milestone few donors ever approach Sept. 29, when he gave his 150th gallon at the OneBlood Donor Center at 15427 N. Dale Mabry Highway.
Lucardie began donating whole blood in the 1980s, according to OneBlood. In 2004, while his wife, Pat, was being treated for breast cancer, he switched to platelets. She never needed a transfusion, but he learned that many cancer patients do.
Platelets are tiny blood cells that stop bleeding by forming clots. Hospitals need them daily for patients undergoing cancer treatment, organ transplants and major surgery. Lucardie’s A-positive blood makes him an ideal platelet donor, according to OneBlood. Between 31% and 36% of people have A-positive blood, making it the second most common type after O-positive.
A whole blood donation draws about a pint. Platelets are collected through apheresis, in which a machine separates the platelets and returns the rest of the blood to the donor. The process can take up to three hours.
OneBlood staff members celebrated with Lucardie after his milestone donation. He plans to keep up his regular schedule, according to OneBlood. Platelet donors can give as often as every seven days, up to 24 times a year.
OneBlood, a nonprofit, supplies blood to more than 250 hospitals in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. Donors must be at least 16, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health. The organization operates more than 90 donor centers and nearly 250 Big Red Bus bloodmobiles.
To learn more or schedule a donation, visit oneblood.org.