IMAGINE almost three dozen paint cans lined up next to each other. Now imagine those containers filled with blood.

That’s the amount Carmel Valley resident Gary Nelson figures he’s donated over the past 45 years.

“It’s become a source of pride to me to see how much I can give,” Nelson said Monday.

At 70, he believes he’s donated about 30 gallons of whole blood and platelets. The amount includes blood he’s donated to the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula Blood Center and in the 1960s while working in Livermore.

Nelson and a Marina man who has donated 26 gallons, according to CHOMP records, are the Peninsula’s top donors, according to the hospital.

An average adult male has about 1.5 gallons of blood in his body.

Nelson primarily donates platelets, which are cells in the blood that help with clotting.

“I’ve been averaging about a unit a week,” he said. “It’s kind of a long procedure. You can watch a movie and that sort of thing.”

While donating a pint of whole blood can take as little as five to seven minutes, donating a unit of platelets, an amount less than a pint, can take an hour and a half.

A separating machine attached to a donor’s arm removes the platelets and a small amount of plasma, then returns red blood cells to the body.

“When you donate whole blood,” said Sharon Paddock, supervisor of the CHOMP Blood Center, “you can’t donate again for eight weeks. For platelet donations, we have some donors who come in once a month.”

That’s because the body replenishes platelets very quickly. Donors can give 24 times a year.

Because platelets are only useable for five days, CHOMP’s Blood Center is constantly seeking donors. And this time of year, the Blood Center is especially in need, since donors often cancel because of illness, Paddock said.

“We continue to need through the holidays,” she said. “We need to keep the donations coming in.”

Cancer and open-heart surgery patients are the biggest recipients of platelet transfusions.

Nelson said about 20 years ago, much of the platelet donations he made went to a Peninsula man with cancer, whom he eventually met.

The man has since died, but the platelets extended his life. “It was years I donated” to him, said Nelson. “He was very appreciative.”

Nelson said he started donating blood while working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the 1960s after someone told him he would be a good candidate because of his clean lifestyle and good veins.

“One time, a gal took a look at me and said, ‘You were born to give blood,’” Nelson recalled.

From that time on, he’s been hooked on the satisfaction of helping people through donating.

“You really feel good about yourself afterward,” Nelson said.

There haven’t been any serious mishaps while donating blood through the years, but Nelson said his arms are proof he is a serial donator. “You get a lot of scar tissue from being stuck with a needle so much,” he said.

The CHOMP Blood Center at 576 Hartnell St. is open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Thursday and from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Donors can drop in or make an appointment by calling (831) 625-4814.