Hastings woman hits 14-gallon milestone

By Bruce Karnick

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In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson was President, the US population was 194 million, the Beatles released “Help!,” Charlie Brown Christmas made its first appearance on TV, Subway opened their first shop, Diet Pepsi and Cool Whip were introduced and Dorothy Wiltermuth gave blood for the first time.

Little did Wiltermuth know, but that first donation would lead her down the path of many, many gallons donated. 57 years is a long time to many, including the Red Cross, but they are surely thankful for the timely donations from Wiltermuth, one pint at a time.

“But you take time off for having children, right? Which a lot of men don't have to do that. So, I mean, I don't have the full 57 years,” laughed Wiltermuth.

Her email from the Red Cross told her she had given blood 127 times in those 57 years. That averages to once every 163 days. This

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Dorothy Wiltermuth in the process of donating her 14th gallon along with the Red Cross Technician that set her up. Photo courtesy of the American Red Cross. last donation made 128, which is 14 gallons of blood donated.

“Someday I might be on the other end of it and pray that somebody will be willing to give for me. The other thing is, if you can't donate financially, what a better way to help out someone,” explained Wiltermuth.

One of the side benefits of giving blood is the body is forced to make new blood. The new blood is a lot like an oil change for your body and it can energize you and keep you going.

With the pandemic, how has donating changed?

“They're a lot more careful. As far as spacing people in the room. Otherwise, it's just as clean as ever been. I've never worried about giving blood and worried about not being clean enough. If I got scrubbed that much at a doctor's office, I would really be happy,” added Wiltermuth.

One major difference is the need to make an appointment. The Red Cross isn’t taking walk ins at all. But that is not difficult. A quick visit to redcross.org and you can find all the info you need on available appointments.

If you have ever considered donating, Wiltermuth would like to encourage you to do so.

“Give blood because that's one way of helping people without putting out money because most people right now are tight with money. But you can donate blood and still help people and it costs nothing and it costs nothing but your time,” she said.

Dorothy Wiltermuth poses with her Certificate of Achievement from the American Red Cross for her dedication to donating blood. Wiltermuth gave her 128th pint of blood in June, that is 14 gallons of blood. To put that in perspective, the average human body holds between 1.2 and 1.5 gallons of blood. Photo courtesy of the American Red Cross. Photo courtesy of the American Red Cross.