The news brand calls on readers to join ‘amazing band of lifesavers’ as the NHS suffers large stock shortfalls
The shortfalls come as pre-pandemic levels of blood demand due to backlogs meet a record low number of donors. According to the Mirror’s report, the NHS is short of 75,000 regular donors and stocks are now supplied by the smallest pool this century.
Leading the campaign is the story of one-year-old Eddie Griffin, who needs a blood transfusion every month to keep him alive. He has diamond blackfan anaemia which means his body cannot produce red blood cells.
Also featured is mother-of-three Lucy Tanner, who credits six donors for saving her life after complications during an emergency caesarean left her needing a lifesaving blood transfusion.
With diseases such as sickle cell mostly prevalent in Afro-Caribbean patients, the campaign also highlights the urgent need for donors with the Ro blood sub-group, ten times more common in black people than in white but only 2% of current donors.
Ethnically matching the blood of sufferers is vital because they receive it in such large quantities, often as much as every four weeks.
Eddie’s mother, Charlotte Griffin, spoke to the Mirror about her son’s case, saying: “Because of donors his future is bright. To everyone who donates blood, I would say, thank you. You are heroes.”
