Nguyen Van Thanh, a 28-year-old man from Hanoi, has made 131 blood and platelet donations over the past decade.

After donating blood and platelets 100 times, Thanh posted about his achievement on Facebook and he was surprised when many people left comments doubting his authenticity.

Some wondered how he managed to donate so frequently, with a few even calling him pretentious.

In response to the comments, Thanh shared that he rarely posts about his blood and platelet donations on social media, preferring to do it quietly.

Thanh understands donating platelets is still new to many people, as most are only familiar with blood donation, which is safe to do every three months.

Donating platelets, which are small cellular components of blood, is safe to complete every three weeks.

Regarding his motivation, Thanh explained that he had a traffic accident and was treated at Viet Duc University Hospital in Hanoi in 2017.

At the time, he lost a lot of blood and had to have a blood transfusion.

During his hospitalization, he saw that blood transfusion was the only way for many traffic accident victims to survive and realized the importance of blood donation.

After being discharged from the hospital, Thanh has maintained his habit of donating blood and platelets.

Every month, Thanh travels 30 kilometers to the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion in Hanoi to donate platelets.

Requirements for platelet donation are stricter than those for blood donation, so he is aware of taking better care of his health.

“I once went to the institute to donate platelets but failed as I did not meet the criteria," he recollected.

"At the time, I did not know that eating a lot of protein would prevent me from donating platelets.”

Since then, he has learned from his experience, having light meals, avoiding alcoholic drinks, and going to sleep early to meet the requirements, Thanh said.

As of this month, Thanh has successfully made 131 blood and platelet donations. 

The National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion has honored him as a typical platelet donor for four consecutive years.

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