Friends join forces with Birmingham Children’s Hospital to raise awareness of blood donation
During National Blood Awareness week, Birmingham Children’s Hospital has joined forces with two patients to raise awareness of the importance of blood donation.
Twelve-year-old Chardenay from Birmingham and thirteen-year-old Ruxelle from Walsall were both born with sickle cell anaemia – an inherited disorder that affects the red blood cells. Having met in the Haemoglobinopathy department at the specialist hospital, Chardenay and Ruxelle became firm friends having their blood transfusions together every month.
The pair have formed a close friendship with their lively personalities keeping the staff entertained on the ward, and try to lead as normal lives as possible with their condition.
However both of the girls have to take time out of school monthly as they rely on regular blood transfusions to increase the amount of normal red blood cells and in turn lowering the number of sickle cells. When there are less sickle cells in the bloodstream they are less likely to cause a build-up and block blood vessels.
The Children’s hospital is home to the largest paediatric sickle cell unit outside of London and is responsible for seeing around 400 children and young people every year. Currently the expert Haemoglobinopathy department transfuses 84 children and young people who have blood disorders such as beta thalassemia as well as sickle cell disease each month. Those who suffer from thalassemia don’t produce enough haemoglobin, and so need regular transfusions.
Frequent blood transfusions play a vital role in the treatment of those like Chardenay and Ruxelle – for which all of the blood is donated.
Many other departments across Birmingham Children’s Hospital regularly rely on blood transfusions for the treatment of patients and last year 1883 transfusions were given to patients with only 7% of those for emergency cases. Donated blood has a limited shelf life so it is vital that there is a constant supply of blood throughout the year to meet the needs of these patients.
This year the Children’s Hospital, alongside Ruxelle and Chardenay, are looking to encourage new donors from African or Caribbean backgrounds to donate blood. This is because sickle cell and thalassemia are more common in people with an African or Caribbean family background.
There are fewer complications from transfusion of blood that is closely matched to the patient’s own blood which is why it is important to encourage new donors to come forward.
Gill Taylor, Haemoglobinopathy Unit Sister, said:
“All of the patients we see like Chardenay and Ruxelle rely on frequent blood transfusions, all of which comes from blood donors. Without the constant supply of blood for these regular transfusions these conditions can become fatal.
Having blood donors that are close in ethnicity to our patients will strongly decrease the risk of them having post-transfusion complications.”
If you would like to donate blood or find out more about the blood donation process and requirements, please take a look at their website blood.co.uk.