For the Miami Valley Today

DAYTON — Tipp City donor Steve Dahlinghaus was a Dayton firefighter for 30 years and has been a blood donor for 40 years. When lives are on the line, you can count on Dahlinghaus to answer the call. He answered again June 22 at the Dayton CBC with his milestone 150th lifetime blood donation.

“I got started at the fire department,” Dahlinghaus said. “That was the first I heard about it. My first year there they started asking for donations. I would come down here (CBC) and that’s how it started.“

His donations are always timely because Dahlinghaus’s blood type is O positive. Type O is used routinely in treating trauma patients, and it has been challenging to keep in adequate supply throughout the pandemic.

His blood is also negative for CMV, the common cytomegalovirus. Because CMV can be fatal to infants, CMV-negative “baby donor” units are preferred for treating newborns and other immunosuppressed patients.

Dahlinghaus averages six donations per year and reached his milestone with his third donation of 2021. He was dedicated to donating during the pandemic, especially after recovering from back-to-back health challenges that temporarily disrupted his donation routine.

“I had an aneurism in 2018, and the next year I had heart attack,” he said. “I was kind of worried about COVID, but I didn’t have any problems after that year.”

CBC thanked Dahlinghaus with a “Donor for Life-150 LTD” fleece blanket.

“My wife Donna will love this,” he said. “She’s always cold!”

Now it’s on to the next call to help and to future milestones.

“I’ll do it as long as I can keep doing it,” he said.