Les Eldridge is a man with a mission! This determined 74-year-old can no longer donate blood in his native Canada. Why? In Canada, the upper age limit for donating blood is the last day of your 70th year. One day you're a blood donor, the next day you're not. The American Red Cross, on the other hand, has no upper age limit for giving blood.

When Les Eldridge feel like donating blood, he gets in his car, drives seven hours to St. Stephen, New Brunswick and parks. He then walks to U.S. Customs where he takes a taxi to the nearest blood drive on U.S. soil. Afterwards, he takes a taxi back to Canadian Customs, retrieves his car and heads to his son's home in nearby Fredericton, Canada.

Les has been giving blood since he was 18 years old and, to date, has donated 43 gallons of blood - a total of 344 units. He feels strongly that his own health is better because of his donations. "I have an obsession to give blood because it helps others and saves their lives," says the father of six and grandfather of four. Mr. Eldridge said he was inspired to become a regular blood donor by his father, also a dedicated blood donor, who was a male nurse in a Halifax veterans' hospital.

Incredibly, this kind of dedication comes at no small cost to Mr. Eldridge. The entire trip costs roughly $125. Les raises the money for the trip by collecting and recycling bottles, batteries, etc, cutting down trees, retrieving grocery carts for supermarkets, cutting lawns, trimming hedges and shoveling snow.

His personal goal? To donate a total of 45 gallons of blood in his lifetime!

Mr. Eldridge, we salute you! You truly represent the meaning of "Blood Without Borders!"

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