Steve Medina has donated 400 pints of whole blood but the volume of his giving cannot solely be measured by the 1-pint bags he fills every 56 days.
Friday, the 85-year-old became the first person to reach the 50-gallon donation mark at Bonfils Blood Center. Others have reached the 50 or even 75-gallon mark for platelets or plasma, but he is the first for whole blood. Each pint can help up to three people, or in his case, 1,200 recipients.
He started donating blood in Leadville during World War II when he was 17 and needed his mother’s permission. He doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon after 65 years.
“I’ll donate as long as I can,” Medina said. “It makes me feel good.”
He said he has been told by friends, “They’ll hurt you with those crazy needles.” In his 400 donations, he has only been hurt four times, which he considers to be a pretty great track record.
Bonfils’ Denver West Community Donor Center in Golden is his regular stop, and nurses Friday gave him a cake in the shape of a blood bag to celebrate his accomplishment.
Joe Chaffin, medical director for Bonfils, said he sees a lot of dedication from the donors who come into the center, but Medina is in a class all of his own.
“It’s an astonishing accomplishment,” he said.
Medina doesn’t wince or grimace and often watches as the nurses draw blood from his right arm. The amount of blood he has donated is enough to replace the whole blood supply in five adults.
A year-long stay in St. Joseph Hospital in 1951 was one of the only times he has not made a regular whole blood donation. He fell more than 40 feet from a tanker, suffering 85 fractures. Doctors pronounced him dead three times, but he “wasn’t ready to go,” Medina said.
Medina doesn’t donate for the bragging rights. When he is not working installing sprinklers for his company SM Sprinkler, he volunteers with Hospice of Saint John.
He lost his wife to cancer in 1994 and has volunteered since with the organization that took care of her. He helps “elderly people like me” get to their appointments and run errands. He also volunteers at area soup kitchens.
His daughter Candice Rizzuto said her father is always giving to others.
“He would give someone the shirt off his back or his last dime if they needed it,” she said.
She sat reclined in the chair next to him Friday, also donating blood to mark Medina’s lifetime achievement.
She remembers when she was younger going with her father while he donated blood.
“He was my inspiration to donate. It only takes a few seconds and it’s so selfless,” she said.
Caitlin Gibbons: 303-954-1638 or cgibbons@denverpost.com
