A record number of units of blood have been donated by one of our local members, Ralph Vaughan, to the San Diego Blood Bank, North County Coastal Donor Center in Vista. Currently at 899, Bro. Vaughan will have donated 900 units in March of 2011, which is equivalent to 112.5 gallons of blood.
Vaughan began donating blood casually in the early 1970s. In 1975, his youngest daughter, Lara, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, stage IIIB, a cancer of the lymph glands. Although there was nothing he or his family could do directly for her, there were several other children at the hospital that could benefit from blood donations. He began donating regularly in 1976 and hasn't missed a minimum interval appointment since. In the 1980s, blood science had advanced to a new process called blood aphaeresis. When it was brought to the San Diego Blood Bank, Vaughan was the second person to undergo the process. At the time, it required to be hooked up to a machine the size of a clothes washer for almost two hours with needles stuck into both arms. Now, the process has changed considerably, and he currently donates 24 times a year, the maximum number allowed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Regarding his donations, Vaughan says: "Lara is doing very well now and has been in remission for several years, but I continue to donate. I consider it 'paying rent' and I jokingly say 'I do it for the donut!'"
Karen Mower, manager of the Coastal Donor Center, says of Vaughan: “I wish we had a hundred Ralphs. He has helped out so much, not only with blood donations, but the donation of his time as a volunteer at the blood bank. That I know of, he has never missed working for us at a Chargers’ Blood Drive since they began.”
He is a member of the Vista 1st Ward, and he and his wife, Gaea, have five children and three grandchildren.
Vaughan began donating blood casually in the early 1970s. In 1975, his youngest daughter, Lara, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, stage IIIB, a cancer of the lymph glands. Although there was nothing he or his family could do directly for her, there were several other children at the hospital that could benefit from blood donations. He began donating regularly in 1976 and hasn't missed a minimum interval appointment since. In the 1980s, blood science had advanced to a new process called blood aphaeresis. When it was brought to the San Diego Blood Bank, Vaughan was the second person to undergo the process. At the time, it required to be hooked up to a machine the size of a clothes washer for almost two hours with needles stuck into both arms. Now, the process has changed considerably, and he currently donates 24 times a year, the maximum number allowed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Regarding his donations, Vaughan says: "Lara is doing very well now and has been in remission for several years, but I continue to donate. I consider it 'paying rent' and I jokingly say 'I do it for the donut!'"
Karen Mower, manager of the Coastal Donor Center, says of Vaughan: “I wish we had a hundred Ralphs. He has helped out so much, not only with blood donations, but the donation of his time as a volunteer at the blood bank. That I know of, he has never missed working for us at a Chargers’ Blood Drive since they began.”
He is a member of the Vista 1st Ward, and he and his wife, Gaea, have five children and three grandchildren.
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