Daylesford students help save 27 lives

TWENTY-SEVEN lives were saved on Friday thanks to the initiative of Aidan Carter.The year 11 Daylesford Secondary College student organised for eight of his fellow students and a teacher to donate blood at the Ballarat Blood Bank."I know the stats, and apparently one in three people need blood in their life but only one in 30 give blood,'' Mr Carter said."With each donation, three lives are saved, so 27 lives will have been helped today,'' Mr Carter said.This is the third time he has donated blood.Mr Carter said he was inspired by his mum, who is a regular donor, and was aiming to donate every 12 weeks when he could."I thought I would be able to bring a lot more people in to do it.''It was the first time Mr Carter's former maths teacher Glenda Belcher donated blood.Ms Belcher said she was very proud of her student."I thought it was a good idea. If you can get a few more people involved, it's lovely, so when he asked me I said yes,'' she said."Sometimes we need a bit of a push to get it to happen." It was also the first time the other seven students had donated blood.Although they were all a little apprehensive about the process at first, it didn't stop them from going through the donation.The Ballarat Donor Centre is located at Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital and is open Monday to Friday.Anyone interested in donating blood should contact the centre to make an appointment on 13 14 95.