Australian officer with ultra-rare blood donates at all 85 centres across country

MELBOURNE: Trevor Bergman, a 59-year-old police officer from Melbourne, has now successfully donated his ultra-rare blood at all 85 Australian donation centres.

While on his journey, Bergman donated blood 545 times, helping patients from virtually every corner of the country.

He is one of just 150 Australians known to carry the anti-D antibody in their blood. Anti-D is given to pregnant mothers whose newborns are at risk of haemolytic disease of the newborn, which arises when the mother’s immune system attacks the developing infant’s blood if the two aren’t compatible.

Bergman got the idea for the hemo-marathon while on vacation in Perth, Western Australia.”When I went past the blood bank there and donated there, I just thought ‘well I’m on holiday here, what a good way to see Australia,'” he told ABC News AU.

“I’ve been able to go all the way up the east coast, all the way over to Western Australia, up to Darwin — places that I probably never would have gotten to see.”He later said that it was “nice to know” that he’s done a small part in helping the national community, and that his most memorable donation visit came when he arrived in Albany, only to be turned away because he had “a sniffle.”

His final blood donation came in Canberra, where Australia’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn accompanied him to the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood centre and gave blood in tandem.

Lifeblood says that 1 in 3 Australians will require donated blood at some point in their life, meaning that donations never cease being important.