Saving lives – measured in gallons
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Norm Perron has been quietly donating blood since the early ‘80s. Lo and behold, last week, he hit his goal — 30 gallons.
The gravity of that number hit him. He admitted he was nervous, “Thirty gallons! That’s 240 pints!”
Perron said he started giving blood when his brother, former Police Chief Ed Perron, was giving blood. “He was encouraging me to give blood, too.”
Before he hit the 30th gallon milestone last week, he was inquiring of the American Red Cross crew about how long he might be able to continue to give blood.
They assured him he was doing fine on that score and reminded him that there is a woman in her 80s in Ashford who is still donating.
Perron has O-negative blood which is universal. “Every time there’s a blood bank in the area, they always contact me,” he said.
The number of people in crisis he has helped must be staggering.
Asked if there was a time when he was told about a life he was saving, he said years ago, when he was at a blood drive at the VFW. “I sat down and they said ‘You’re O negative?’ I said ‘yes,’ and they said ‘We need you right now.’” They told him they had a 3-year-old who was in critical need of O negative blood.
“As long as I’m physically fit and able to donate blood, I will continue.”
.
Congrats and Thanks
From left: Cindy Nowlan of the Hale Y, Joe Olzacki of the American Red Cross, PBA President Kate Cerrone, Norm Perron and Dick Loomis, PBA Development Committee. Linda Lemmon photo