More than 70 Donate Blood for West View Firefighter

West View firefighter William Cummings, 58, learned in January that he has a life-threatening illness — his stomach is lined with hyperplastic gastric polyps, and he requires a new liver.

“Where these polyps grow in your stomach they bleed internally,” said his wife, Donna Cummings. “They do an endoscopy every six to eight weeks down through the mouth into his stomach [to check the polyps].”

Since then, he has needed blood transfusions every few weeks just to stay alive.

Cummings has gone through an estimated 16 to 20 pints of blood since his diagnosis. When he finally receives a new liver, he will need even more blood -- about 30 pints during the surgery.

This drain on the supply of blood from the Central Blood Bank and the concern for Cummings' health Saturday at the 

More than 70 people tuned out to help. Nick Lohr, a frequent blood donor, was among them. 

"Giving blood is always a good thing to do," Lohr said. "But when you can put a name and a face to the person you're helping, it really hits close to home."

First-time donor Jessica Boyd said "Giving isn't that hard compared to what the people who need it are going through." 

Cummings has been a for 40 years but he cannot work due to his illness.