Simon "Simmo" Braun is undertaking a cross-country journey across Australia, visiting every Lifeblood blood donation center to promote blood donation. His initiative, dubbed the 'Bloody Good Tour,' aims to raise awareness about the critical need for blood donations in Australia, emphasizing that only one in 50 Australians donate despite one in three needing blood.
Braun's journey is driven by his personal experience with the positive mental health benefits of donating blood. He started donating at 16 and found it improved his well-being, a finding he wants to share nationally. His family is participating in this tour, which started in August 2024, and has already visited numerous centers across multiple states.
Braun hopes to set a record for the most blood donations on a single day with his team, "Bloody Good Humans." He encourages everyone to participate by donating blood on July 31st, the tour's final day. This initiative combines a personal challenge with a call to action, emphasizing the profound impact of blood donation on both recipients and donors.
A father who is on a mission to visit every blood donation centre in Australia has made it to Perth in a bid to encourage West Australians to donate.
Simon “Simmo” Braun has been donating plasma every fortnight as he and his three children travel in a caravan around the country.
It was his 256th donation when he visited Lifeblood’s Perth donor centre on Tuesday but he said it was his first ever donation when he was a teenager that inspired him to keep donating.
“I did my first donation when I was 16 — after school I was walking to the train station with a mate and saw a pop up donor centre and I thought I will give that a try,” Mr Braun said.
“It was so easy and it felt good helping someone else so we decided to keep doing it, in fact, the best mate from school and I are still friends and we’ve done hundreds of donations together.”
His family packed up and left the central coast on August 1, 2024, so far visiting 71 donor centres in Queensland, NSW, Tasmania, Victoria and now WA.
Throughout his travels he’s hoping to show that blood donations don’t just save lives but also improve the mental well-being of the donor.
“A couple of years ago, I was in a bit of a negative head space but I still kept donating plasma because that was baked into my routine,” he said.
“I was at a donor centre and I caught myself feeling really happy and positive.
“I joined the dots and found out the best way to get out of your own head is to get into someone else’s heart, do something for someone else, and then your problems just evaporate.
“Around that time I learnt the statistics that one in three Aussies need blood but only one in 50 donate and I just found that shocking and I wanted to share that feeling that I have from being a donor with the rest of Australia.”
His family will travel north through WA, making their way to the Northern Territory and Adelaide before heading back to NSW.
To finish his travels strong, Mr Braun wants to break a record for the most donations done on a single day by a Lifeblood donation team.
He is inviting everyone to join his team Bloody Good Humans and book in a donation for July 31, which will be the last day of his tour.
“This is the best, most selfless record that you could hold and we get to do it together,” Mr Braun said.
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