Giving is in his blood

Opinion

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This article was published 25/01/2021 (1710 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeff de Booy knows where he’ll be on Feb. 15: giving blood.

Making a donation every 56 days has been an important part of de Booy’s routine for decades.

Last month, the 69-year-old St. Vital resident received a certificate in the mail from Canadian Blood Services, congratulating him on his 200th donation — a milestone he reached in 2019. His next donation will be his 211th.

Inspired by his father, another regular blood donor, de Booy made his first donation when he was in high school.

“I thought it’d be a great idea to follow his example and just basically took it from there,” he says.

De Booy’s blood is O-negative, a rare type that only seven per cent of Canadians have.

O-negative red blood cells are compatible with all other blood types, meaning that in critical emergencies — when there is no time to confirm a patient’s blood type — O-negative blood can make a lifesaving difference.

The difference blood donations make became apparent to de Booy about 11 years ago, when he was working as a photojournalist at the Winnipeg Free Press. His colleague, Jon Thordarson, was in the hospital with cancer.

During a phone conversation, Thordarson brought up de Booy’s commitment to donating blood.

“I think he’d come to realize that when people have cancer there are times they need blood, and it got him thinking,” de Booy recalls. “He said, ‘You know, we could be blood brothers.’ It really hit home at the time that, in a sense, I was donating blood for someone I knew.”

Born in Diemen, a suburb of Amsterdam, de Booy immigrated to Canada along with his family when he was three years old. They landed at Pier 21 in Halifax before settling in Winnipeg.

His photojournalism career began at the age of 20 when he walked into the Winnipeg Tribune to see if they had work for him. He stayed with the paper until its demise eight years later.

After a few years as a freelancer, the Free Press hired de Booy full time in December 1986. He retired in 2014.

One assignment during his time at the Tribune saw de Booy face off against Gordie Howe.

While covering a Winnipeg Jets game against the Houston Aeros, de Booy was taking pictures from the penalty box, which Howe occupied.

Mr. Hockey felt de Booy was getting too close with his camera, and jabbed him below the eye with his stick, drawing blood.

“I was a bit stunned by that. Everyone in the area sort of gasped,” de Booy recalls. “That’s the way it was back then.”

A proud grandparent to twin boys, de Booy enjoys spending his retirement with his wife, Chris.

He pursues his passion for photography, paints the occasional watercolour, and of course, still makes trips every two months to Canadian Blood Services.

He hopes his story inspires others, just like his dad inspired him.

“I want to get other people to go out and donate blood,” de Booy says. “It helps so much.”

Volunteers such as de Booy are important, says Mike Choi, territory manager at Canadian Blood Services.

“The fact that a donor would be so dedicated to the cause that they would donate for a majority of their life, and over the span of decades, is really, really admirable,” Choi says.

Canadian Blood Services has implemented a variety of measures to ensure that donating blood during the COVID-19 pandemic is safe.

Anyone interested in making a donation can book an appointment at blood.ca or by calling 1-888-236-6283.

“You’re directly impacting someone’s livelihood and well-being by donating blood,” Choi says.

If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.