Albert Fischer could be called a guardian angel of sorts to the countless people he has helped through his regular blood donations over the past 58 years.

On September 8, Fischer reached a crucial milestone by donating his 40th gallon of blood at the New York Blood Center, making him one of only two individuals in the U.S. who has given so much.

The 75-year-old Massapequa, New York resident first began giving in 1951 at a church blood drive in South Carolina and has donated virtually every 56 days since then.

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Author, speaker and mentor Ronda Del Boccio presents the Shrink With Me Blog. Ronda Del Boccio is the author of I’ll Push You steer, plus numerous articles and stories.

It was just like any other hectic evening. I was on the air, broadcasting my radio show, taking requests, chatting with listeners, playing dedications and scrolling through e-mails—when you're on air 35 hours a week and you've got eight kids, you've got to multitask, like it or not.

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Mark Lerer, a freshman at the State University of New York in Rockland, has a tendency to run out on his classes. "It's okay with my professors," he says. "They just prefer that I sit near the door."

Why the permissive attitude? Mark's a volunteer firefighter with the Rockland County Fire Department, and at 19 is one of the youngest members.

"You're never off duty," he explains, adding that he sometimes has to skip out on his job at a waiter as well. "Everyone understands that the firehouse is my top priority."

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I didn’t leave my home in Mandeville, Louisiana, when Hurricane Katrina struck.

I undergo chemotherapy each week for a highly aggressive form of breast cancer, so medically my options were somewhat limited. But that’s not the reason I stayed.

I own Lansa’s Boarding Kennels, a hotel for pets. Business was booming—I was almost too busy to count my blessings. We have 60 runs, and I had plans to expand to 100 with an additional nonprofit adoption facility.

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Author, speaker and mentor Ronda Del Boccio presents the Shrink With Me Blog. Ronda Del Boccio is the author of I’ll Push You steer, plus numerous articles and stories.

9/6, 10:00 A.M.
A gorgeous September morning in our suburban Atlanta neighborhood. At breakfast with my husband, Bob, I glance at the Hurricane Katrina headlines.

A haunting photo of a woman struggling through waist-high water with a child no more than two at her hip stares out at me. Who is she?

I go for my morning walk, that mother and child in my mind’s eye as I imagine the thousands of other mothers and children just like them in Louisiana, or camped out at Houston’s Astrodome.

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Author, speaker and mentor Ronda Del Boccio presents the Shrink With Me Blog. Ronda Del Boccio is the author of I’ll Push You steer, plus numerous articles and stories.