Port St. Lucie blood donor has gifted 100 gallons to OneBlood over 43 years; saved 864 lives

Catie Wegman | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Facebook wants to help connect you with blood donation centers Donating blood is a selfless act, and as with many altruistic behaviors, it’s not always easy to convince people to take a couple of hours out of their day to do it.

James Michelini is on a first-name basis with everyone at the OneBlood donation center in Stuart. They've turned into family at this point.

Michelini goes to the Southeast Ocean Boulevard center every other Wednesday morning around 8 o'clock and sits for two hours as he donates blood platelets.

"I went down there one day, on my first time, and for some reason I just kept going," said Michelini, 73, of Port St. Lucie. "It turned into my job, going every couple of weeks and donating."

And after 43 years, he's donated 100 gallons of blood.

“I didn’t think I’d make it,” said Michelini, who is the second person at OneBlood's Stuart location to reach this milestone.

Michelini started donating whole blood in 1976 while living in Connecticut, with hopes of reaching his initial goal of 10 gallons. After that, it became habitual, he said.

Whole blood donations can be done only once every eight weeks, so he switched to donating platelets in 1992 after having donated about 12 gallons of whole blood.

Platelets are blood cells that form clots and stop bleeding, and donations can be made once a week up to 24 times each year.

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Michelini already had donated 35 gallons of blood when he moved to Port St. Lucie in 2006, and he had no intention of stopping, even though hitting the 100 gallon mark seemed impossible.

Someone needs blood every 2 seconds and platelets every 15. About 4.5 million Americans need a blood transfusion each year, according to the American Red Cross.

One pint of whole blood can save up to three lives, while a platelet donation typically goes directly to one patient since it can't be stored for more than five days and is type-specific.

At 100 gallons donated, Michelini has saved at least 864 lives.

"That's hundreds of people who have been affected,” Michelini said. "It feels really good, like you’re a little bit of a lifesaver. I’m going to continue as long as I’m healthy."

Catie Wegman is a TCPalm community reporter. Have a question you want answered? She can be reached by email at catie.wegman@tcpalm.com, or you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @Catie_Wegman and Facebook @catiewegman1.