LOGAN’S HEROES
THE MOTHER AND SON ARE INDEBTED TO BLOOD DONORS
Strangers saved this boy’s life
There’s a special moment Niki Besley relishes just before her eldest boy Logan races out the door each day. She knows her youngster is always mindful of the terrifying weeks he battled a mystery illness that came perilously close to claiming his life, so the pair always share a tender embrace before he jets off.
“He’d kill me if I said this, but he won’t leave the house without giving me a cuddle,” she confesses. “Yes, it’s behind our four walls, but he still does all that kind of stuff because he knows he nearly died – he knows he was that close – so I think he’s really appreciative.”
Tears flow as the Auckland mum-of-two (44) recounts the knife-edge health scare four years ago, filled with blood transfusions and fears her gravely ill child would not survive as a mystery illness ravaged his small frame.
What started as a flu-like bug saw the 12-year-old land in hospital, weak from vomiting and sweating from fever.
“One night, I turned up to replace my husband and he was blue,” Niki tells, the memory still causing her to break down in tears.
“There was no oxygen getting to his lungs and it was pretty scary. That was probably the worst day.”
At one point, Niki and her husband Craig (43) were told the grim news that there was nothing more that could be done for their son.
With specialists stumped, Logan’s blood underwent a battery of tests. Meanwhile, the best course of action was to replace his oxygen-starved red blood cells, under attack by a virus, up to three times a day.
The breakthrough came when doctors gave plasma a go.
“The first plasma exchange was quite horrific,” recalls Niki. “It was meant to be a yellowyclear colour. His was black like tar. You couldn’t see through the bag. Then they did all the testing with the plasma and he was actually getting poisoned!”
The second plasma exchange showed promising signs, turning a lighter brown.
“Something had changed,” says Niki. “They were trying to get the virus to recognise the good blood versus the bad blood. In the end, he had three plasma exchanges.”
While doctors never pinpointed how or where he contracted the virus, the grateful parents gave their permission to use Logan’s medical history should someone else fall ill to the same rare ailment physicians named autoimmune cold agglutinin haemolytic anaemia.
By the time Logan was finally discharged from hospital, he had needed more than two dozen blood transfusions. Thanks to these selfless acts of giving blood, Niki, also mum to nine-year-old Micaela, was determined to make a difference.
“It’s why I’m so passionate about donating blood. Some strangers gave me 26 pints of their own blood. If I didn’t have those, my son wouldn’t be alive today. And it’s not just my son. There’s countless other people out there in the same situation.”
Experiencing first-hand the importance of donations provided by the New Zealand Blood Service, now in its 20th year, she encouraged her employer Farmers to join the organisation’s Team Red initiative. Employees are picked up by a shuttle during their working day and taken to a donor centre.
“For Farmers to provide that service during work hours is just amazing,” she asserts. “I’ve never been to a workplace where you can. Because of them, I give four times a year.”
Niki says everyone on the team has their own reason for donating, from family members undergoing cancer treatment through to a volunteer firefighter who sees close up the need for blood at accident scenes.
“It takes all of 20 minutes to give blood and you’re saving lives,” she says. “Your body doesn’t need the blood, but it can make all the difference for someone else.”
Adds the blood service’s national marketing and communications manager
Asuka Burge, “We often take it for granted that blood will be there when we need it most and thanks to the ongoing kindness of blood donors, we are able to ensure blood is readily accessible at all times wherever you are in the country.”
For Niki, who has watched her son slowly regain his health from the debilitating illness, it’s all the motivation she needs to keep supplying the life-giving liquid.
Niki, who has given blood since she was a teenager, declares, ”I want to give back the 26 pints – not that I’ll stop then, but that’s my mission.
“I’m sure that I’ve saved a life or made a family happy or better off. It gives me pleasure to know that by myself giving blood, it’s helping so many people.”
‘ I want to give back the 26 pints – not that I’ll stop then, but that’s my mission’