A 72-year-old retired nurse is super-donor after donating 400 in the past 50 years. Sylvia Quilty has worked as a nurse for 25 years but she has managed to save several lives.

The Burnaby resident first donated blood at a tender age of 18 and is is B. C.'s top female blood donor. Quilty on Saturday made her 389th donation at the Canadian Blood Services clinic on Oak Street.

The super donor said, "I have great veins. I have been doing this for so many years that it's a habit. I know almost everybody here and it's comfortable for me. It just takes time, but not everybody has the time."

People do not have time for donating blood but for decades Quilty has made sure that, she has the time for this.

Quilty decided to donate more often after she came to know that there was an apheresis machine, which separates blood and platelets in Vancouver. She donated regularly until there was a change in policy that refused taking blood from women who have given birth. But now she donates blood every eight weeks.

Apart from Quilty Frank Burstein is the top male donor in B. C. with 520 donations and Nova Scotian with more than 900 donations is the country's top male donor followed by an Albertan who is the top female donor who has given blood 800 times.