A blood drive was held in Arizona to honor Paula Off, who gave blood more than 300 times before she died of cancer
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NEED TO KNOW
- Paula Off made over 300 blood donations, inspired by her daughter’s and father’s need for life-saving transfusions
- A blood drive was held to honor Paula, who donated more than 20 gallons of blood before she died of cancer
- Paula’s husband, Philip, continues to donate blood regularly to carry on his wife’s dedication to community service
A woman who donated 23 gallons of blood during her lifetime is now being honored for her donations in a special way.
Paula Off made more than 300 blood donations, with her daughter and her father inspiring her decades-long effort, per Arizona outlet AZFamily.
“Our daughter only survived four and a half months, but they worked valiantly to try and save her life, and a lot of transfusions,” recalled Paula's husband, Philip. “But then her father came down with a thing called aplastic anemia, which is a form of anemia which, in most cases is fatal, but they were keeping him alive with very frequent transfusions.”
Credit: getty
In 2025, Paula was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“She was giving up until the very last minute of her life,” Philip said of his wife, who died five months after her diagnosis. “One thing she was most sad about was that she couldn't give blood anymore.”
During a recent blood drive in Flagstaff, Paula's legacy lived on as locals honored her by lining up to give blood to those in need. Carina Fors from the Vitalant blood bank organized the event after being inspired by Paula’s "amazing" story.
“She dedicated her life to community service, and part of that community service was giving blood. Even if one person more of the eligible population donated blood that would help out so much to alleviate shortages," she said.
Vitalant previously honored Paula on Instagram for her 300th blood donation in April 2022. "Join us in congratulating Paula for reaching her 300 Donation Milestone!" the blood bank wrote.
"Paula's dad encouraged her to become a blood donor when she was a teenager,” they continued. “Having been in the service, he viewed donating blood as a way to give back. Paula gave blood for the first time with her dad and reminisced, 'He was in the cot next to me, and said ‘let's race!'' From that moment, I got hooked. It's a simple, selfless act. Just get out there."
At the blood drive, Philip was "first in line" to donate. “That's quite an honor and a pleasure to be able to do this and carry on my wife's legacy," he said.
He told AZFamily that he plans to keep donating blood to honor his late wife's dedication.
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Credit: getty
“It's going to be on my calendar like it was on hers,” he said. “It's not going to be an occasion thing. The calendar will be marked, I think it's every eight weeks to give, and I will be here.”
The American Red Cross announced in January that “the national blood supply fell about 35% over the past month.”
“Every person's blood donation can help save lives — plus you help ease the tremendous burden on our doctors and nurses, allowing them to focus on caring for patients,” Dr. Courtney Lawrence, executive medical director for the Red Cross, said in the announcement.
Those looking to donate can make an appointment, or search for a nearby blood drive, on the Red Cross website, or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.
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