Mum thanks her blood donor heroes - and urges others to give gift of life

A new mum has said she is '˜indebted' to the generosity of the strangers who donated blood after she needed three transfusions following a traumatic birth.
Reporter Lucy Ball with baby Clara.Reporter Lucy Ball with baby Clara.
Reporter Lucy Ball with baby Clara.

Advertiser reporter Lucy Ball, who helped champion the paper’s Give A Pint, Save A Life awareness campaign back in 2017, now wants more people to make a new year pledge to give blood.

The 29-year-old lost more than two litres of blood after giving birth to baby Clara in October. She said: “I am indebted to the kind-hearted people who gave their time and more importantly their blood because they made me better when I was so poorly.”

Lucy, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, underwent such a quick delivery that her body went into shock. Over the subsequent 24 hours she lost 2,100ml of blood in postpartum haemorrhages.

She said: “Throughout the Advertiser’s campaign I heard so many brave and life-changing stories from people who had given and received blood, so I knew how important it was.

“Having now received three units of blood I will never be allowed to ‘give it back’, but I can continue to raise awareness of the need for blood donors and encourage people to do some good this year.”

NHS Blood and Transplant need to collect 1.6 million units of blood each year to meet the needs of patients across England.

Just under 200,000 new blood donors are needed each year to replace those who no longer donate for reasons such as ill health, pregnancy or foreign travel, and to ensure the right mix of blood groups.

Lucy added: “To those wonderful people who donated their blood, you did a great thing. You helped me to be well again so I could start my new adventure as a mum and I cannot ever thank you enough.

“My advice to people this year is don’t make resolutions you know you aren’t going to keep, do something different, give a pint and save a life.”

• Blood donor sessions run throughout the year in Buxton and New Mills. To sign up to become a donor, visit www.blood.co.uk.