Guinness World Record blood donor Maurice Creswick drank his 350th free cup of tea in Johannesburg on Tuesday after breaking his own record for the 14th time.
Creswick (79) donated his first pint of blood at the old Johannesburg General hospital when he was 18 years old.
He broke the Guinness record for the first time on July 9, 2003, when he donated his 336th unit of blood. Since then he has been donating a pint of blood every 56 days.
”My next target is 365. Another 15 should be a pushover. Now I just want my cup of tea,” he said, while stretched out on a bed at the South African National Blood Service’s clinic in Auckland Park.
Creswick said he was inspired into donating blood when he was 11 years old, when he saw a tram smash into a car in Johannesburg.
”There were five people in the car and they were all wearing white because they were going to play tennis. After that accident their clothes were scarlet. I promised myself then that I would never stand by and do nothing when others needed my help.”
He said people often just sat around, wasting 10 minutes.
”Every day you hear about accidents where people need blood. Or you hear of people with cancer or leukaemia or of women that have been raped,” Creswick said.
”A person could give a pint of blood in that time. It’s so easy. Many people don’t understand how far reaching that blood is. I want to keep on giving till I can’t anymore.”
Creswick said when he first gave blood, nurses used ”very long” needles that looked like they would stick right through his arm.
”It was a huge needle, about 20cm in length. It looked like it go through from one side to the other. Today the needles are much smaller and happier.”
He said he had cheated a few times in the past by giving blood before he was due.
”If I knew I was going away or would be out of town I would go in a few days before I was due and give some blood. You couldn’t get away with that today because everything is computerised. So I used to cheat, but good cheat.”
Robert Crookes, the medical director of the SANBS, said Creswick’s achievement was a historic occasion for the blood donation service.
”This is a truly historic occasion for blood donation in South Africa and the world. Maurice Creswick is the first person ever to donate 350 pints of blood as an unpaid volunteer.”
It worked out that Creswick had been giving blood every six weeks for 54 years.
”To reach that milestone makes this feet remarkable and this is why Mr Creswick has been recognised in the Guinness book.” – Sapa