Wayne Rogerson was inspired to start donating blood by the last act of a mate who donated his organs, saving seven lives.

But he could not have foreseen that the selfless act of donating blood would ultimately save his own life.

Mr Rogerson’s close friend, V8 Supercars driver Ashley Cooper, died when he was seriously injured in a crash at Adelaide’s street racing circuit in 2008.

His family later revealed that his donated organs had saved the lives of seven people.

After the news, Mr Rogerson said he wanted to ‘do his part’ and gave blood 21 times, rarely missing an appointment in eight years.

But during a donation appointment in 2017, an Australian Red Cross Lifeblood nurse discovered Mr Rogerson’s hemoglobin was low and urged him to seek medical attention.

“I had no symptoms, none at all,” he said.

After Mr Rogerson went to hospital and underwent scans and medical tests, doctors discovered he had a tumor in his duodenum, a segment of the intestine.

Mr Rogerson spent around three months in hospital for surgery and treatment and during that time he received two blood transfusions.

But to his great disappointment, he can no longer donate blood for medical reasons.

“Having been both giver and receiver, I urge everyone to donate if you can,” he said.

“Give as much as you can, as often as you can.”

Omicron rejects a large part of the reservations

The Lifeblood Red Cross is urging Australians to donate blood because the Omicron variant leads to the cancellation of one in five donation appointments every day.

Australia has around 500,000 regular blood donors, but millions more across the country are eligible and urged to step up with around 100,000 sidelined donors.

Australian Red Cross Lifeblood’s executive director of donor services, Cath Stone, said the service had enough supplies to support hospitals and treatments nationwide, but more donors were needed.

“What we’re doing is just trying to make sure we have the right supplies all the time to support continued treatment across the country,” she said.

Ms Stone said if people had had COVID-19 they could donate blood when they recovered and seven days after receiving a negative RAT or PCR test.

People must wait three days after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine because donors must “feel fit and healthy” to donate blood.

The push comes as Lifeblood made a submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to review the ban on people who lived in or visited the UK during the risk period for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). , the human form of bovine disease known as “mad cow disease”.

Anyone who has been in the UK for six months or more between 1980 and 1996 is not allowed to donate blood.

Lifeblood proposed the change “after a review of the latest medical evidence,” a spokesperson said.