Former police officer Jarrod Gibson on the loss that inspired him to donate blood 300 times

For more than a decade, Hobart man Jarrod Gibson has donated blood and plasma roughly once a fortnight - and now he’s opened up on what inspired him to give back.

When a young friend of Jarrod Gibson’s died of cancer, it awakened in him a passion for donating blood.

A former police officer, Mr Gibson was partnered with a seriously ill boy through children’s cancer charity Camp Quality in the mid-2000s, when he was undertaking volunteer work.

He said he was devastated when the boy died at age 7.

“I’d sort of seen the necessity of blood donating and how … every time you donate, you’re saving three lives,” Mr Gibson said.

Jarrod Gibson donates blood for the 300th time. Picture: Linda Higginson

On Friday, Mr Gibson, 53, now retired, completed his 300th blood donation at the Lifeblood Hobart Donor Centre on Bathurst St.

For more than a decade, he’s donated blood and plasma roughly once a fortnight.

“In 2009, I lost about 30 kilograms fairly quickly to get healthy again,” Mr Gibson said. “And I was in the police force at the time and through that started donating.”

“And then very quickly I went from blood to plasma, which meant that I could donate every fortnight and just got into a routine where basically I was booked for every fortnight and just kept going.”

A keen long-distance runner, Mr Gibson has an ambition to complete the world’s six major marathon races.

He leaves for the UK later this month to run the London Marathon, before flying to the US to participate in the Chicago Marathon.

Follow @rg_inglis

Originally published as Former police officer Jarrod Gibson on the loss that inspired him to donate blood 300 times