Blood is urgently needed every day, but there is a special call for more donations this month to mark National Blood Donor Week (June 9-15).
The Leukaemia Foundation is encouraging people to do a good deed and roll up their sleeves for blood cancer patients.
More than 100,000 Australians are currently affected by blood cancer.
It takes 18 people donating blood monthly to treat one person living with blood cancer.
More than a third of all blood donations (34 per cent) collected by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service go towards supporting cancer patients and people living with blood diseases.
One 470 ml blood donation unit includes red cells, plasma and platelets. On average, one acute leukaemia patient will need nine units - or 2.25 litres - of red blood cells each month, or just over one litre (36 units) of platelets each month during treatment.