For Springfield resident David Butt, what started as a one-time blood donation to learn his blood type turned into donating blood 400 times.
Butt has been donating blood since 1990 and has now reached the 400-donation mark. In honor of that milestone, the Fresenius Kabi National Blood Donation Hall of Fame will recognize him this year.
Twice a month, Butt makes his regular Power Red donation, which removes the platelets from his blood for donation. He used to donate whole blood, which can be done every 56 days, but he switched to platelet donation in 2008.
Butt is currently retired, but he used to work as an emergency management director for Springfield and Sangamon County. Even with being on call all the time, he found a way to keep his donation schedule.
Butt’s employer also understood how much donating blood meant to him. He was able to donate blood at 7 a.m. and get to work at 9 a.m., even though his workday was supposed to start at 8 a.m. However, since Butt was on call 24/7, he thought it was a fair arrangement.
Butt still remembers the reason he started donating too. When his wife was pregnant with their first child, the doctor asked for their blood types. Butt did not know, so the doctor recommended that he go to donate blood, and the blood center would let him know what blood type he was. When Butt went to the Central Illinois Community Blood Center in Springfield, he found out that he was type B-Positive, which is in high demand for platelet donations.
In addition, Butt’s blood donation schedule has helped him bond with one of his sons. In 2009, Butt’s younger son asked to go with him and make his first blood donation – the same day as President Barack Obama’s inauguration. While donating, they watched the inauguration on TV – and Butt’s son has continued to donate since that day, reaching two gallons donated before his high school graduation.
Over his journey to help those in need, Butt has donated 50 gallons of blood – over 33 times the amount of blood an average human body holds – and he plans to continue donating as long as he can.
