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Fla. man donates 100 gallons of blood

Harold Mendenhall started donating blood the year his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer

By Barbara Marshall
Palm Beach Post

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — He never looks as the needle goes in.

Even though he’s done this more than 400 times, Harold Mendenhall still doesn’t like to watch it sliding into the raised vein on the inside of his left arm.It doesn’t hurt, he just doesn’t like the visual. “Make sure you give me the sharp needle, not that square one,” he jokes to phlebotomist LaTonia Federick.

“They always compliment me on my veins,” he says. At the One Blood center on Northlake Boulevard in Lake Park, Mendenhall is a star. Last month, the 84-year-old reached a rare milestone. Since 1977, he has donated 100 gallons of blood.

Full story: This blood donor from Riviera Beach has given 100 gallons in 35 years