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Kelowna  

'I wouldn't be here today'

Gordon Leverington has been donating blood since he was 17. Over the following 63 years, he has sat down to give 306 additional times.

Leverington was just one of the many life savers celebrated at Canadian Blood Services' Honouring Our LifeBlood event in Kelowna Thursday night.

Gayle Voyer, territory manager with CBS, said those honoured at the event have donated 3,650 units of blood between them.

“Blood donation is a gift. Blood is in you to save lives,” Leverington said. “I want to see people live, I don't want to see people passing away unexpectedly.”

Volunteer Jerry Vrabic has seen the value of giving blood first hand.

“August of 2015 I was involved in a motorcyle accident in Yellowstone National Park,” Vrabic said. “Ten broken ribs, a broken collarbone, eight transverse processes, I ruptured my spleen ... I needed blood right away.”

About a week later, while still in hospital, one of his broken ribs severed an artery, almost causing him to bleed out. He was given 26 units of blood, approximately 11.7 litres, and his life was saved.

“If there hadn't been blood, I wouldn't be here today,” Vrabic siad. “Nothing that any medical doctor or expert could have done in this world wouldn't have saved me if it hadn't been for people like this who gave blood ... It's a priceless gift.”

While 50 per cent of Canadians are eligible to give blood, only one out 60 people do.



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