The seventh annual memorial blood drive in honour of the late Langley firefighter Ron Dunkley drew more than 100 people Sunday.
Bernard Froebel was one of those who stopped in, a regular blood donor who will go wherever needed to offer up his arm to the nurses.
Now 74, he began donating when he was in high school. “1960 or thereabouts,” Froebel remembers.
He has given blood 85 recorded times, and that doesn’t include the times he donated while a student at UBC.
“I felt obligated to help when I can,” Froebel said.
For those organizing the drive, the reasons are personal and close to home.
In the winter of 2010, Langley City firefighter Ron Dunkley was on a trip to Washington State to see a football game when he was struck by a train.
Dunkley was critically injured, and despite the efforts of doctors, he died in early January.
During his time in the hospital, he required a great deal of blood.
The first annual drive was held in Langley while Dunkley was still in hospital.
VIDEO:
“This is the only way we could truly give back for his cause,” said firefighter Rob Rabby, who founded the blood drive seven years ago.
Sandy Dunkley, Ron’s mother, stopped by the event as well.
She remembered the incredible support Langley firefighters gave her family when Ron was hospitalized.
“There was never a day with less than at least 10 firefighters coming in,” she said.
Sandy became a blood donor herself for the first time at one of the blood drives in her son’s honour.
“I never want this to stop,” she said. “This has got to keep going.”
The drive was expected to collect about 130 units of blood.
“Drives like this help us get the message out,” said David Patterson, director of donor relations for BC and Yukon for the Canadian Blood Services.
That’s necessary because there are a lot of empty appointment slots over the next few months around Metro Vancouver.
Firefighter Dave Skidmore was one of those lining up to give blood. He’s given blood more than 50 times so far, and began before he was a firefighter.
“My dad was a cancer patient, and required lot of blood as well,” Skidmore said. It isn’t just traumatic injuries that require blood, but ordinary surgeries special medical conditions and treatments.