Lawrenceville’s Donald Bagley rolled up his sleeves when a friend from church needed help for her husband.
And he’s never stopped donating blood platelets, those minuscule cells that play a vital role in clotting and healing in cancer and other critically ill patients.
Not in 17 years.
“It’s just the right thing to do,” Bagley said.
On Jan. 25, he achieved “super donor” status when he made his 300th blood platelet donation to Atlanta Blood Services, at Northside Hospital Atlanta in Dunwoody.
Only one donor has given more platelets there than Bagley in the past 25 years, said Nancy Herring, donor recruitment supervisor at Atlanta Blood Services.
Bagley said he initially planned to make a one-time donation for his friend. But then he was called and asked to give another, then another, he said.
“They’d call. I’d come. They’d call. I’d come,” Bagley said.
Credit: Phil Skinner
For most of the 17 years, he’s driven from Lawrenceville to Dunwoody twice a month to donate platelets. If traffic is bad at I-285, the trip can occasionally take him two hours. Giving the donation takes another two to two and a half hours.