DAYTON — As a Ph.D. and Professor Emeritus in mathematics and statistics, Beavercreek donor Dan Voss can easily do the math on 100 lifetime blood donations. Getting there is the hard part. But Dan solved it when he made his milestone donation Oct. 3 at the Dayton CBC Donor Center.
Calculating the beginning of his quest took a moment. “If I had to guess, it was probably in 1983 or so, when I started at Wright State,” he recollected. Dan and his wife Nancy were married the same year and they have two adult sons. He went into teaching and research after getting his undergraduate degree at the University of Dayton and his doctorate at Ohio State. He retired in 2012 but only recently gave up teaching part-time.
As a type O positive donor, he is a “universal donor” for all Rh-positive patients. He is also a “baby donor” who tests negative for CMV, the common cytomegalovirus. Hospitals prefer CMV-negative blood for transfusion to infants, children and other immune-deficient patients.
He was a dedicated donor for decades at the Dayton CBC until a health issue intervened. “I had a couple of years when I couldn’t donate because of melanoma,” he said. “Other than that, I’ve been happy to enjoy good health.”
After being unable to donate in 2016 and 2017, you could say Dan calculated his way back to a full schedule of donations. He reached his milestone with his fifth donation of 2019.
“It’s important,” he said, “and it’s easily done.”
