Daniel Willcox notches more than 100 plasma donations at new collection centre in Canberra
Daniel Willcox made his 111th donation of plasma on Tuesday, marking the opening of a new blood plasma centre in Canberra, one of only two plasma-only donation centres in Australia.
The centre has the high-profile support of Brumbies co-captain Christian Lealiifano, who had blood transfusions as part of his treatment for leukaemia.
At 24 Daniel Willcox has notched up 111 plasma donations.
Photo: karleen minneyMr Willcox, 24, who works for Basketball ACT, has been donating plasma every fortnight since he was 18, inspired by his parents.
He is one of the youngest Australias to pass 100 donations, and hopes to one day overtake the NSW central coast's James Harrison, 80, the record holder with 1100 donations to date.
"It's not much of a time sacrifice and when you think of the benefits, it's hard to imagine why you wouldn't do it," Mr Willcox said, with his own family having benefited from blood transfusions.
The new Canberra centre, in Mort Street, collects only plasma, not whole blood or platelets, allowing it to be more specialised and efficient. Whole blood is usually separated into red blood cells, plasma and platelets.
Red Cross Blood Services manager Steve Eldridge said the need for plasma was rising fast, with demand for some treatments increasing 11 per cent a year.
Plasma was used to treat cancer and burns, fight infectious diseases, protect pregnant mothers, prevent blood clots and stop bleeding in emergency situations.
Canberra was chosen because it was already home to a high number of plasma donors. The other plasma-only centre is in Townsville, where dengue fever makes whole-blood donations more difficult.
The Canberra Plasma Centre hopes to achieve more than 20,000 donations in the next year.