Blood brother sets record of 325 donations

[caption id="attachment_39038" align="alignright" width="250"] AWARD EARNED: Leon Meiring with some of the gifts he has received through the years for his regular blood donations and his 300 donations medal. Picture: JUDY DE VEGA[/caption]

A PORT Elizabeth man has saved nearly 1000 lives in the past five decades – simply by donating blood.

Leon Meiring, 69, has in the process earned an Eastern Cape record, after recently making his 325th donation.

His achievement is so unusual the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) had not even designed a medal for it. The service's medals only go up to 300 donations.

Meiring, of Sunridge Park, said he started donating blood as a 15-year-old in 1960 when an uncle said it helped with migraines.

Since then he has tried to donate blood every eight weeks, even when he was overseas working on freight ships. - Estelle Ellis