SARASOTA, FL. - It has taken 26 years and hundreds of trips to the blood bank. Now, the first woman in Manatee County has reached a major milestone as a donor.

71-year-old Petra Stentz of Bradenton was honored Tuesday at the Florida Blood Services Manatee donor center. She has now 100 gallons of blood.

Stentz has been donating blood since the 1970s, and platelets since 1982, and she couldn't stop smiling today because she's thrilled to have finally reached her goal.

Now she may go for another hundred.

Stentz has helped more than one thousand people thanks to her donations.