Blood donations are gifts of life
KNOWING someone donated blood to save his life is ‘‘really nice’’, says 9-year-old Hugh Ellicott.
When Hugh was born in 2005 by emergency caesarean, he was very pale at birth. His mother had suffered a placenta eruption and Hugh needed help to survive.
Rebecca Ellicott said her son needed multiple units of blood and platelets and probably wouldn’t be alive today had that not been available. ‘‘It was really unexpected because there were no signs. The ironic thing is I already worked here [the New Zealand Blood Service]. All the hours I’d spent in the lab and my son ended up being a recipient.’’
Hugh said he would probably be a donor himself when he grew up. ‘‘That’s really nice and caring for them to make me still be alive now. It was really nice for someone that I don’t know to donate blood.’’
Ellicott said her son was now a bubbly, soccer-mad, happy child who was very active. She was incredibly thankful to whoever had donated the blood when it was needed.
Almost 12,000 units of blood and blood products were used by mums and newborn babies across the country last year.
Yesterday was world blood donor day and the start of the NZBS’s pledge campaign. This year, donors and supporters are being asked to spread the message online.
Westpac helicopter pilot Paul Robinson has just given his 100th donation, a platelet donation in honour of world blood donor day.
The NZBS national database currently has 106,000 active donors. It hopes to gain an additional 12,000 potential eligible donors this year.
The NZBS says it loses up to 28,000 donors each year due to retirement, ill health or personal choice. Meanwhile, about 115 people need lifesaving blood or blood products each day and fewer than 4 per cent of those eligible donate blood.
For more information, visit nzblood.co.nz.