Super donor marks milestone

Tom Davies (right) donating plasma today at the Hamilton Blood Donor Centre, his 500th blood donation, accompanied by his son Gareth donating whole blood. Photo / Dean Taylor

On World Blood Day in 2012, I wrote a story about Individual acts of heroism that save lives across New Zealand every day. It was a story about blood donors and featured local man Tom Davies who had, at that time, donated more than 300 times.

Five years later he featured again when he reached the 400 donation milestone - and I described him as a super-donor.

At the end of the story, he said “I don’t expect to get to 500 donations - but who knows.”

Now we do know - today Tom made his 500th donation - a rare achievement, especially when you consider he also donated a kidney to save the life of an anonymous recipient in 2020. More on that later.

I had the privilege of taking the chair beside Tom and making my 223rd donation and on the other side was Tom’s son Gareth donating whole blood.

Tom gave his first donation in Sydney on June 18, 1970, while on his OE.

His next donation was at Gladstone in Queensland, memorable he says ‘because I fainted’.

“Still on my OE, I was working at the Gladstone Hotel,” he says.

“It was a busy day so no time for lunch, then a rapid walk to the blood collection site.

I donated, sat down with a cup of tea then fainted - fortunately putting the cup down beforehand.

“This is the only time I fainted and I’m lucky to have been queasy only two or three times.”

The service in Australia is operated by Red Cross, and he recalled his father talking about Red Cross and St John being saviours when he was in a German POW camp, so Tom saw it as a way of giving back, even at a young age.

Another ‘attraction’ of being a donor is that it is completely egalitarian.

“All of us, conscious of others can donate and each donation is treated as equal, no matter our financial, ethnic, cultural or social status,” he says.

This started a habit that has lasted another 498 donations - and counting - even donating in Toronto when he was in Canada.

Blood donor Tom Davies pictured at the Hamilton branch of the New Zealand Blood Service where he regular attends to make donations of plasma (bag pictured). He is about to donate the 405 time and is asking others to make a habit of donating as well. Plasma donors in particular are being sought after because it can be made into thirteen other blood products. 15 October 2017 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Alan Gibson. BTG 09Dec21 - Blood donor Tom Davies pictured at the Hamilton branch of the NZ Blood Service, completing his 405th donation in 2017. Photo / Alan Gibson BTG 09Dec21 -

Since 2000 most donations have been at the Hamilton Blood Donor Centre.

He says it is a great place to donate, perhaps the best in the country, with a friendly, prompt and caring team.

“Donors are made to feel special,” he says.

His blood group is the most common, and therefore most in demand, O+ and soon after he started donating in the Waikato he was accepted as a plasma donor.

His philosophy for donating blood is to serve others, and by donating plasma he can maximise this service by donating every two weeks.

Plasma can be donated fortnightly - collected using an apheresis machine that takes whole blood, removes the plasma and returns the other constituents to the donor.

This process typically takes him about 60-70 minutes and during that time donors can read, chat with neighbouring donors and enjoy a hot drink and snacks.

Donating blood has taught Tom more about his body as well and he believes it helps him stay healthy.

``My blood pressure is generally somewhat lower than normal, especially at 8.30am - my normal donation time,’’ he says.

``I understand this relates to my habit of early morning exercise from 6-7am and it is a common, known phenomenon for our blood pressure to drop in the two hours following robust exercise.

``My blood pressure drops to a point at which the NZ Blood staff can be uncomfortable, so on a couple of occasions I took a brisk walk to bring it back up to an acceptable level.

``We also have the charge doctor’s note on my records that systolic pressure of 90 is normal.’’

Immediately following a plasma donation Tom can exercise at a moderate level for one to one-and-a-half hours with no ill effects.

He also believes donating seems likely to improve his body’s response to losing blood.

However, he points out, this remains an unproven theory.

``Conversely, there is no evidence donating has done me any harm.”

Even at age 76 Tom has no significant after-effects from donating plasma and he has passed on the habit, two of his and wife Jill’s children also donate whole blood.

Tom keeps on top of his fortnightly schedule using the NZ Blood Service phone app which contains his donor ID, future appointments and where he can book future appointments.

One appointment he probably never expected was to have surgery to remove a perfectly healthy kidney.

Kidney transplant recipient Chantelle Good and kidney donor Tom Davies catch up in 2020 following their respective operations. Photo / Dean Taylor

That story started when he met local businesswoman Chantelle Good through Te Awamutu Business Chamber.

Chantelle had a genetic kidney disease and at that time had been on the kidney donor register for eight years.

Her disease was inherited from her father and his had manifested itself when he was 39 years old. He underwent a kidney transplant in his early 40s and has been healthy ever since.

Chantelle’s kidneys failed suddenly in April 2012 - when she was just 24. She has familial focal segmental glomerular sclerosis (FFSGS) - a rare condition that can be traced back through seven generations of her family.

In most people, the kidneys will get scarring when a person is ill, but it repairs. FFSGS prevents that healing.

She had known about the gene since she was 15 but didn’t expect it to cause failure at such a young age.

Since then she has learned that having her son when she was 21 put extra pressure on her system and may have contributed to the early onset.

Her son Kameron also has the gene. He understands it is probable, but not definite, that he will have kidney failure also.

The family live with the knowledge but doesn’t let it rule their lives.

Chantelle started dialysis after her kidney failure and continued regularly, as well as having to attend hospital often for emergency treatment. The kidneys filter blood, get rid of toxins and manage the nutritional flow.

Chantelle says if any of those processes don’t occur she gets very sick, very quickly.

For two-and-a-half years Chantelle would undergo peritoneal dialysis, a daily routine self-administered in the home whereby a fluid was circulated through a tube and into the abdominal cavity, where it would absorb waste products and then be drawn out and discarded. It was a 10-hour process.

Chantelle says it wasn’t that effective in her case and she changed to hemodialysis - also self-administered at home.

As the name suggests, it is dialysis of the blood - Chantelle would connect the machine’s tube to a fistula and blood would flow through the machine to be cleaned.

She hadn’t given up hope of a transplant - but she had waited a long time because she was difficult to match.

“Many matches were tried, and failed.”

Chantelle had been expecting to be put onto the donor exchange with Australia to try and widen the net when the good news came.

“It happened fast,” she says.

A little over three-and-a-half hours after getting the early morning call that a donor had been found, Chantelle had told her family, sorted care for her son and was at Auckland Hospital.

Nine hours later they were operating.

Today Chantelle says ‘life’s good’ - although there is a chance she will have to go through the transplant process again in five or six years.

She says she has a donor in the wings this time, so there won’t be any waiting.

But she’s also hopeful the kidney will just keep on working and she can prove the experts wrong.

What Chantelle didn’t know until after her transplant was that Tom had offered his own kidney for her - but they weren’t a match.

On learning of Chantelle’s disease, Tom started to mull over how he might help.

“I’m already a blood donor and have ‘donor’ selected on my licence,” he says.

“I’ve told all my children to give away what they can when I die.”

He says he found Chantelle’s story inspirational and decided he would see if he could offer one of his own kidneys for transplant.

Tom approached the Waikato District Health Board Regional Renal Unit and was thoroughly tested.

“I ticked all the boxes along the way,” says Tom.

“The only one that didn’t get ticked was being a match with Chantelle.”

But instead of opting out, Tom took the option to be an anonymous donor.

“I had made up my mind to donate a kidney, so that’s what I did,” says Tom.

“If we are not a match for our chosen recipient we can donate to the donor exchange which will find a match.”

All the testing had been done, so it just meant waiting for a matching recipient.

That happened fast and Tom was admitted to hospital and had his left kidney removed.

He spent two-and-a-half days in hospital, plus five days nearby, and some time recovering, but says he has no regrets.

Tom says he has been told the recipient is doing well, and that is what matters.

* Tom Davies says an important part of making decisions about blood or organ donation is getting good advice. He has mentored/supported people through the process and is available should anyone else need his support.

You are also welcome to contact Chantelle Good or me, Dean Taylor, should you wish to learn more about donating blood or organ donations/transplants.

Tom, 027 211 4467

Chantelle, 02 621 4900

Dean, 0274 819951

Dean Taylor is the editor of the Te Awamutu Courier and a community reporter with 35 years of experience.