Sonja Reitberger, now 83 years old, started donating platelets at Roswell Park when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1974.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — When Sonja Reitberger arrived to Roswell Park to donate platelets Wednesday afternoon, she was greeted by balloons, flowers, and her grandson, Lawrence.
“I have to say, I appreciate the welcome I’ve gotten,” she said, “This is wonderful.”
The celebration was for a fitting reason.
“I’m here representing my family because my Oma, my German-born grandmother, has been donating platelets for 50 years,” Sonja’s grandson, Lawrence Glaser, said. “I’m only 37 years old, so I can only imagine another 13 more years that she’s been donating platelets for.”
It all started in 1974, when Sonja’s mother Ida was diagnosed with breast cancer and received treatment at Roswell.
She has been giving back to the hospital ever since.
“I have been very lucky with my health,” she said. “I’m 83 years old and feel I have done my job, but I’m going to continue as long as I can.”
Sonja is now the proud matriarch of her own family.
“I have 10 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren, and another one on the way,” she said.
Now she hopes that they’ll each follow her example.
“Just try to come down and do it. It’s nothing to it,” she said to encourage others to donate. “The nurses they make you very comfortable here that’s all we can say.”
Lawrence says just everyone can learn something from his Oma.
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