Arabic version: شرطي يُكمل التبرع بالدم في 85 مركزاً أسترالياً

According to ABC News, Melbourne police officer Trevor Bergman has donated at every one of Australia’s 85 Lifeblood donation centres. The 59-year-old completed the goal by donating plasma in Canberra, his final location, after making 545 blood donations in total.

Bergman has donated blood since he was 18. He conceived of visiting every centre while holidaying in Perth 10 years ago, after passing a blood bank and donating there. The challenge took him along the east coast, to Western Australia and Darwin, allowing him to visit places he said he may otherwise not have seen.

He is one of about 150 Australians who carry the anti-D antibody. Australian Red Cross Lifeblood’s Aania Tandon said the antibody is provided to nearly 48,000 pregnant women each year to help protect babies from haemolytic disease of the newborn. She said anti-D donors have an antibody that can prevent a mother’s immune response from targeting a baby when the mother’s blood type is negative and the baby’s is positive.

Bergman said one of his most memorable experiences came when he travelled to Albany, Western Australia, but was unable to donate because he was unwell. He said he did not mind being turned away because the blood supply’s security had to be maintained. At his final donation in Canberra in May, Governor-General Sam Mostyn joined him, made a donation and helped mark the completion of his goal.

Lifeblood has reported rising demand for blood and plasma, which are used for cancer patients, people with auto-immune conditions and road-accident victims. Tandon said one in three people in Australia would need blood at some point in their lives. Close to 60 per cent of Australian adults are eligible to donate, but only about 3 per cent do, she said. Lifeblood is urging people to make donation an ongoing routine.