Super donor!
Recovered doctor’s blood to save lives
AN NHS doctor who spent seven days on a ventilator with coronavirus could end up saving others thanks to his extraordinarily high antibody levels.
Dr Alessandro Giardini has been identified as an antibody superdonor after tests found he has the highest level in the UK.
By donating his blood plasma, which has around 40 times the antibodies of the average coronavirus survivor, he is aiding a major study which could help critically ill patients.
Dr Giardini, a father of two, 46, said: ‘It was a very hard experience, not knowing if you will see your family again... I felt I had to give back.’ In the trial his antibodies – proteins produced by the body to fight infection – will be transfused into patients who struggle to develop their own.
The NHS has identified men over 35 who were admitted to hospital with the virus as ideal candidates for donation.
Mr Giardini, a paediatrician at Great Ormond Street Hospital, is leading a campaign for eligible recovered patients to donate.