Howard P. Drew Jr., retired National Library of Medicine reference librarian and command sergeant major in the U.S. Army, will be listed in the 2003 Guinness World Record Book as holding the record for “most blood donated by a single person.”
According to the March issue of the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center News, Drew contacted the Guinness organization in 2000 and inquired what the record was for blood donation. He petitioned Guinness in March 2001, claiming the record on the basis of units of blood rather than a previous measure based on the number of platelets donated. On July 24, 2001, his world record was finalized. Between 1950 and 2000, Drew has donated a documented 213 units, or roughly 28 gallons of blood. He continues to donate blood every two months. “It’s simple and it doesn’t hurt,” he said.
While Drew is pleased to hold the record, he also enjoys the fact that he is helping people. “Every time I donate, I get the only feeling that’s greater than the one you get when you receive the help you need, and that’s the feeling you get when you help others in need,” Drew told the News. He started donating blood after he was injured in an army bus accident in 1945 in Massachusetts.
Posted April 29, 2002.