Hull mum backs campaign to get more blood donors
Claire Smith's mum and daughter both received life-saving blood transfusions
A Hull woman whose mum and daughter both received life-saving blood transfusions is backing a campaign to get more young people becoming donors in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire.
Last year - around just 10% of all blood donated in our region came from people under the age of 25.
Half of all donors are aged over 45, according to new figures from NHS Blood and Transplant today.
Claire Smith from Hull's mum needed regular blood transfusions after developing Leukaemia and her daughter also received life-saving blood after being born severely premature.
She told us:
"My mum was diagnosed with Leukaemia around three years ago and she required lots of blood and platelet transfusions, often having two to three pints a week at her worst and without that bloood she wouldn't have stood a chance at survival. It prolonged her life just that little bit more so she could see grandchildren being born.
"My daughter, Katie, was also born at 26 weeks and she also required blood transfusions in her early days and she was also in intensive care so again without the blood donations for that, even though she only had tiny bags of blood, she would never have survived either.
"I would just encourage everyone to sign up because you would be helping to save someone's life, whether it be an emergency situation, helping a premature baby or someone with some form of blood disorder, they really need that blood and it is so precious and you really would be helping to extend their life for possibly years and years to come.
"We never thought that a member of our family would need a blood transfusion until my mum got poorly and until Katie was born. You just don't know how precious that kind of thing is until you really need it. Every single person that donates blood is saving a life and if everybody could do that, hundreds and hundreds of lives could be saved."
There's been almost a 30% international drop in people becoming blood donors last year compared to a decade ago.
NHS Blood and Transplant is now leading the Missing Type campaign for new blood donors to ensure blood donation for future generations.