Man's 750 blood service donations

Gareth Joshua donates platelets every three or four weeks

An electricity manager has won praise from the Welsh Blood Service after making 750 donations over 34 years.

Every three or four weeks Gareth Joshua from Cardiff donates platelets - one of the components of blood - which are used to help sick babies.

Mr Joshua, 56, said he could not remember missing a single donor session since he was 22 years old.

Donating platelets is different to donating full blood, which can be done only every 12 weeks at most.

It takes about 70 minutes for Mr Joshua to make a donation.

The platelets help to stop or prevent bleeding and are processed either from donations of whole blood or are collected using a machine called a cell separator.

The machine automatically separates the donor's blood components and collects the platelets with a small amount of plasma.

750 donations is a huge amount... Gareth is a truly dedicated person Trudi Evans, Welsh Blood Service

Red cells, white cells and most of the plasma are returned to the donor during the donation.

Mr Joshua began giving blood when the donor sessions were held in his workplace in Cardiff and he went onto become a platelet donor ten years later in 1984 when his wife's uncle developed leukaemia.

"They took blood samples from me and found I was O negative, which means my platelets can be given to anybody," he said.

"Unfortunately they didn't help my wife's uncle for long but they did give him some extra time.

"From that time on really I've tried to go as often as I can."

Mr Joshua travels to the Welsh Blood Service's headquarters in Llantrisant to make his donations and he said his employers had been very flexible in allowing him time off.

"You are attached to a machine and it's actually a lot more comfortable than when you donate a pint of blood," he said.

"It's only a needle in your arm.

'Family atmosphere'

"You are virtually sitting upright as you donate and I chat to the nurses. There's a family atmosphere up there."

Mr Joshua said his platelets were mostly used to help neo-natal babies and that each donation he made could potentially help 12 babies, or provide 12 doses for one baby.

Platelets can also help patients with certain blood disorders, or people who are being treated for cancer or leukaemia with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Mr Joshua has also had some success in persuading family members and work colleagues to follow in his footsteps. His wife Trudy began donating blood nine years ago and his daughter Carys started following in his footsteps in 2006.

Trudi Evans from the Welsh Blood Service was full of praise for his efforts and said his donations had saved lives.

She said: "750 donations is a huge amount. Gareth is a truly dedicated person.

"Sometimes we can link someone like Gareth to a specific patient - someone waiting for a transplant who needs three or four units of platelets.

"That person would have no chance of life at all without people like Gareth."