Harley Brown reaches his 200th blood donation.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
What could’ve ended in tragedy has turned into triumph for Shepparton local Harley Brown, who made his 200th blood donation on Friday, May 1.
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In 1967, Harley’s wife, Cheryl, gave birth to their first daughter, Andrea, at a hospital in Cobram, but due to an extremely rare condition — afibrinogenemia, which occurs in one in a million people — Cheryl began haemorrhaging.
Before either of them knew it, she was being rushed to hospital in Shepparton via ambulance.
Leaving new baby Andrea in Cobram with family, Harley met the ambulance in Shepparton.
“I actually beat the ambulance to the hospital,” Harley said.
Cheryl received a full blood transfusion, and leaving the hospital five days later with “all new blood”, the couple realised that if there were no donors she wouldn’t have made it.
“[Cheryl] wouldn’t be here today without them,” they both said.
“A top gynaecologist in Melbourne told me he had only ever seen two of these cases, and lost both of them,” Cheryl said.
“I was very lucky.”
Not being a registered blood donor or able to help his wife during this emergency made Harley consider becoming a blood donor. Twelve months later made his first donation.
In 1968, the couple were living on a farm in Katamatite and there were not any donor centres around, so Harley and some friends drove to Yarrawonga to a mobile centre.
Since that first donation he hasn’t looked back.
“About seven of us would drive up to Yarrawonga because they had a mobile centre in the town hall,” Harley said.
“Then when I moved to Shepparton, I first donated at GV Health and now at the donor centre since it opened.”
Harley describes donating blood as “the real thing”, and says he feels like royalty when he walks into the centre.
“I feel a bit like Prince Harry,” he said.
“The people in the centre all gather around when I come in, and the nurse I first had when I moved here is still there.”
Harley Brown with his wife, Cheryl Brown, enrolled nurse Sarah Sweeney, session leader Marg Jones and donor centre manager Michelle Hamilton.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
At 83, Harley donates three times a year. He experiences no side effects, and says he plans to continue donating until he physically no longer can.
“They say I bleed very well,” he said with a laugh.
“As long as I feel healthy and capable to, I will keep going until they tell me to stop or I start to feel really bad.”
But it’s the small things that put a smile on Harley’s face.
Blood donors receive an SMS from the donor centre letting them know that their blood is being sent off to help someone in need.
“One good thing I like about being a donor is that they always send me a text to say my blood is on its way too,” he said.
“One of my recent ones went to Adelaide to help a sick child.
“That was really special.”
Harley’s message to the community is simple: anyone that can donate blood should do so.
“It’s rewarding. It’s fantastic,” he said.
With this milestone reached and hopefully many more years to go, Harley is now setting his eyes on a 60-year feat.
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