Saving Lives

Torrance Memorial's "super blood donors" are superheroes.

Written by Melissa Bean Sterzick | Photographed by Siri Berting

Blood donations save lives. Donated blood helps patients survive serious illnesses, surgeries, cancer treatments, and accidents. All blood types are needed – and they are needed every day. Donations made at Torrance Memorial are used within the hospital for patients from the surrounding community. It’s estimated that only 3 percent of eligible blood donors give blood once a year, but a group of generous South Bay residents have given enough to be called “super donors.”

John Linder, A positive

John Linder has not only donated more than 14,000 volunteer hours to Torrance Memorial, he’s also given more than 23 gallons of blood.

Linder donates blood every 8 to 10 weeks. He didn’t even take a break during the height of the pandemic.

“They had to be a little more careful. They pretty much just had one donor at a time. There were more checks, and we wore masks, but it didn’t stop me,” Linder says.

He recommends anyone who is able to stop by the donation center and donate blood.

“When you give blood, it gives your body a chance to make a new blood. In some ways it’s like changing the oil in your car,” he says.

Linder, like all of Torrance Memorial’s super donors, enjoys the free T-shirts and the high-donor dinners, and says the staff at the hospital’s blood donation center is like a family.

“They take care of you,” he says.

Dave Nair, O positive

Dave Nair has been a regular blood donor since the 1970s.

“One of the things that really struck me is that blood only comes from us, you can’t manufacture blood, you can’t make it,” he says. “The blood I donate at Torrance Memorial means they don’t have to buy it from the Red Cross, because it’s very expensive.”

Nair sold promotional advertising materials before he retired. He was at a meeting at City of Hope when a representative from their donor department invited him to make a donation.

“It didn’t bother me. And I’ve got a vein you could throw a needle at from across the room and make it. Of course, I was trying to make a sale, too. I started making a routine out of it and I would donate blood every time I had an appointment for a sales call,” he says.

Before he donates, Nair drinks a big glass of water. He says the process takes 45 minutes for him and he gets cookies and coffee when he’s finished. He is always telling people to donate blood.

“I enjoy it.”

Sharon Woloszyk, O positive

Sharon Woloszyk started donating blood as a college student in memory of her grandma.

“It was my freshman year and the dorm had a blood drive and I thought ‘what a great way to give back.’ It has great health benefits, too,” she says.

These days, Woloszyk gives blood every eight weeks or five times a year.

“I’m a person of routine. And they’re always so lovely at the donation center. We chat about their kids and where we’ve gone on vacation. I don’t like needles, so I say ‘please cover it up and get it out as fast as possible’,” she says.

Woloszyk works as a project manager and she has lived in the South Bay since 1998. She is so committed to donating blood that before she visited Beliz a few months ago, she made sure to ask if she would be able to donate when she got home. She says she always tries to bring someone with her when she gives blood.

Tony Mullikin, A positive

When Tony Mullikin was 18, the Moose Lodge in Gardena offered a free pancake breakfast for anyone who donated blood – he had a big appetite and thought it was a great deal. He's been donating blood faithfully ever since.

Mullikin just retired and that means gardening, fishing, biking and spending time with his wife, Tracy, but he has no intention of retiring from donating blood.

“I try to think of myself as a pretty humble guy. I try to live an exemplary life. I’ve given 12 gallons – that’s a hell of a lot when you think of it, but that’s not why I do it,” he says.

Knowing his donations save lives is what inspires him to give.

“It’s enjoyable – I know that is a weird term for donating blood. It’s a feeling of love, and gratitude, for people I don’t even know. It’s something that I can do for free that helps somebody else,” he says.

Mullikin puts a high value on the relationships he and his family have formed with the doctors and nurses at the donation center. He tries to spread the word about donating blood in every way he can.

“Anybody can do what I have done. If they can stand the prick of a needle, they can do it. It takes maybe 35 to 45 minutes every 60 days,” he says.

Nancy Scott, A positive
Tim Scott, O positive

Nancy and Tim Scott have turned their commitment to donating blood into a bit of healthy competition.

“I have beaten him. I have more gallons than he does,” Nancy says. “Yes, it’s a competition. We even compete about our iron levels.”

“I can give blood faster than she can and my iron is always higher than hers. But she beats me on cholesterol and blood pressure,” says Tim.

Nancy gave blood occasionally during her college years. She did it because her father always donated and she felt impressed to follow his example.

“It’s a great thing to do. It’s very simple and helps a lot of people,” she says.

Tim’s grandfather is the person who influenced him to donate blood regularly.

“My grandfather, he was born in 1902, used to tell the story about how he might get a call in the middle of night to come down to the hospital and lay down on a gurney next to the patient. They did direct transfusions in those days. They literally pumped the blood into the other guy directly,” he says.

The Scotts might be competing for “Best Iron Levels” and “Most Pints Given,” but they are loyal teammates when it comes to promoting the importance of donating blood.

“We encourage everyone we know to give. It’s such an easy thing to do and the team at Torrance Memorial is just so much fun,” Tim says.

Albro Lundy, A positive

A high school teacher inspired Albro Lundy to give blood the first time when he was 16 years old.

Since he moved to Palos Verdes in the mid-1990s, Lundy has given blood at Torrance Memorial Medical Center every two to three months. For his birthday, he asks his family to donate blood instead of buying him gifts.

“I’m hoping that I can keep donating blood for as long as I live. When I reach 200 pints (I’m at 170 now), I’m going to have a party,” he says.

Besides the joy that comes with knowing his donations save lives, giving blood also led Lundy to his wife, Cathi. They met at a blood drive he organized when they were students at UCLA. It’s also a way he connects to his father, a fighter pilot who lost his life saving others in the Vietnam Conflict.

“I’m an evangelist for blood donations. I don’t have any T-shirts that are not ‘donate blood’ T-shirts and I wear them all the time. I bring them up as a talking point and invitation,” he says. “You do the things that you can do to help and it just cements in your heart that it’s the right thing.”

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