Melbourne Donor Completes Visits to All 85 Australian Blood Donation Centres

A Melbourne police officer has completed his goal of donating at every Australian Red Cross Lifeblood donation centre, combining a commitment to helping patients with a decade-long travel challenge, ABC News and Good News Network reported.

Trevor Bergman, 59, reached his 85th and final location in Canberra. ABC News identified the donation as plasma and reported that the visit took place in May.

Both outlets reported that Bergman has made 545 donations. ABC News described that figure as his lifetime total, while Good News Network presented it as donations made during his journey.

According to ABC News, Bergman began donating at 18. The idea of visiting every centre came much later, during a holiday in Perth 10 years ago. After donating while away from home, he decided the activity could become a way to explore Australia.

His travels subsequently took him along the east coast, across to Western Australia and north to Darwin. Both outlets reported that the challenge brought him to places he might otherwise never have visited.

Bergman is also part of a small group of donors whose blood contains the anti-D antibody. Good News Network put the number of Australians known to carry it at 150; ABC News described the group as about 150 people.

ABC News quoted Lifeblood’s Aania Tandon explaining that anti-D is provided to nearly 48,000 pregnant women each year to help protect their babies from haemolytic disease of the newborn.

The condition can arise when a mother’s immune response targets her baby’s blood. Tandon explained that this can happen when the mother’s blood type is negative and the baby’s is positive, and that antibodies from anti-D donors help prevent that response, according to ABC News.

Not every stop resulted in a donation. Both outlets recounted Bergman’s visit to Albany, Western Australia, where staff turned him away because he was unwell.

ABC News reported that Bergman accepted the decision, emphasising the importance of protecting the blood supply. He nevertheless remembered the unsuccessful visit as a particularly notable part of his travels.

At the final stop in Canberra, governor-general Sam Mostyn joined him and made a donation herself, both outlets reported. ABC News said she also helped celebrate the completion of his challenge.

The milestone comes alongside Lifeblood’s appeal for people to make donation a regular commitment. Both outlets cited its estimate that one in three Australians will need donated blood during their lifetime.

ABC News added that blood, plasma and platelets support care for cancer patients, people with autoimmune conditions and those injured in road accidents.

According to ABC News, donations increased after an urgent appeal earlier in the month, following a prolonged cold and flu season that had contributed to blood and plasma supplies reaching their lowest level in 10 years. Tandon said demand remained high despite that response.

She also told ABC News that close to 60% of Australian adults are eligible to donate blood, but only about 3% do so.

Bergman attributed his challenge to a combination of community service and travel, according to ABC News. Both outlets reported his satisfaction at having contributed to the wider community, while Lifeblood continued to encourage ongoing donations rather than relying only on responses to urgent appeals.

Sources

• Good News Network: He Donated His Ultra-rare Blood 545 Times While Visiting Every Blood Bank in Australia
• Melbourne police officer gives blood at all 85 donation centres in Australia