Giving blood comes naturally for Belvidere man

Darrell Hintz of Belvidere, just gave his 200th pint of O-negative blood last week at the Red Cross blood collection in Hebron. That’s 50 gallons of blood from one individual, and at approximately five pints a year, Hintz, who is 77 years old, has given blood for 40 years. “There were a couple of stretches when I didn’t give any,” he said, “but I’ve always given when I could.”

He started as a teenager, back in 1950. “My mother had leukemia,” he said. “She needed blood while she was ill and after she died I started giving when I could.”

Hintz remembers donating blood directly to a crash victim sometime in the 1960s. “Tiny Johnson called me and asked if I could help out, that a woman who was in a bad accident in Chester needed blood right away,” he said. “So I laid on a table beside her and they pumped my blood right to her.” Hintz said he never saw the woman, “there was a sheet hanging between us,” nor learned who she was, “but she sent me Christmas cards every year thanking me for the blood. She never did sign them.”

On Friday, according to donor recruitment representative Stephanie Mousel, the Bloodmobile collected 70 pints of blood exceeding the goal by three pints. “The bloodmobile returns to Hebron March 16,” Mousel said, and added the collection will be at the Grace Lutheran Church.