by Sahar Foladi
A Dandenong man was lucky enough to make a life-turning discovery thanks to being a blood and plasma donor to Red Cross.
Hailing from a family that has long donated to the Red Cross and Red Cross Lifeblood, Ainsley Garath made his first blood donation in 2019 influenced by his family and the materials he read about the organisation.
It has become one of the few organisations he has faith in.
To further his contribution, he went to donate plasma. But to his shock, he was denied due to an irregular heartbeat upon a health check-up.
“That was very bad, that was heartbreaking for me,” Mr Garath said
“I was very unfit. I didn’t realise it was a problem until I was denied donating because of my irregular heartbeat and being unhealthy.”
Not long after, a ‘call from the universe’ made him come across the Red Cross Human Race fundraiser promotion where participants ran 100 kilometres in the month-long event.
“I thought this is amazing, right when I want to get fit and healthy. I jumped at the opportunity.
“I wanted to challenge myself as much as possible in something that I didn’t think I could do.”
And he did it right. Not only did he complete the 100-kilometre challenge but he doubled it and ran 200 kilometres.
He says the call from the universe was his driving factor but the support and cheers from friends, family and strangers was what made him break the record.
“It was torturous going from not being able to run to my letter box to doing half marathons every weekend. It was a big jump but amazing.
“It was crazy. I didn’t think I could do it, didn’t think I could reach 50 kilometres to be honest but just having people around you, you tend to do more than you could.”
Some of his friends even joined him throughout the run in support as strangers texted Mr Garath words of how proud they were of his works.
“I would genuinely love to be full-time whatever the Red Cross want me to be.
“It was a great starting point to get me healthy and fit. Since then, I’ve moved to body building and cross fits.”
He’s set for a Hyrox Crossfit competition at the end of the month, an intense combination of running and functional workouts.
Two years later, he has now booked in his 47th fortnightly plasma donation.
“It feels good to be able to give back to people.
“When you get a text message that your blood is en-route to Adelaide Royal Hospital for someone that needs it, that feeling is out of this world,” he said.
“Instead of sitting on the couch playing a game, you spent an hour to donate blood and now you’re literally saving lives. That’s wild.”
Plasma is usually given to trauma, burn and shock patients, as well as people with severe liver disease or multiple clotting factor deficiencies.
It helps boost the patient’s blood volume which can prevent shock.
Pharmaceutical companies use plasma to make treatments for conditions such as immune deficiencies and bleeding disorders such as, vaccinations for chickenpox, products for protein deficiency and to prevent hepatitis A amongst a few.
Red Cross donations are often used directly for hospital patient transfusions.
“I want everyone to be able to feel that incredible feeling you get from donating.
“I feel like I should be paying the Red Cross with how good I feel after it.”
He completed the 100-kilometre Human Race fundraiser again this year, and remains committed to blood donating.