Give blood during Easter holidays

Children who depend on life-saving blood transfusions are encouraging people to give blood during the Easter holidays to ensure NHS Blood and Transplant has enough to meet demand.
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Eight-year old Sophie Thorne – who has a rare condition called Hereditary Spherocytosis – is taking part in a campaign to remind everyone that donating blood saves lives.

Sophie’s mum Catherine said her daughter had needed an emergency transfusion when she was three: “Sophie called it her ‘super power blood.’ I saw how much difference it made so started donating myself.”

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Every donation is vital, but supplies of the universal blood group O negative – often in short supply as demand is so great – is particularly vital. There is also a need for rarer blood types including A negative and B negative. Giving blood takes less than an hour.

It’s also important for more people from black and Asian communities to donate. Some disorders, such as Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassaemia, are more common in these patients and donors from the same ethnic background are more likely to be a close match.

> Book an appointment at www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23. The Luton Donor Centre is in St Georges Square, Bridge Street, Luton.

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