I owe everything to blood donors

GIVE and let live. That’s the message from Government ministers who have written to every secondary school and college urging them to teach young people about blood, bone marrow, tissue and organ donation.

But one Oldham college is already leading the way. Reporter Karen Doherty found out more.

LITTLE Helena Dixon loves going to the park, feeding the horses on the farm and having a cuddle at bedtime.

And the adorable 18 month old can do all these things with her mum thanks to the silent army of heroes who give blood.

Rachel Dixon suffered a postpartum haemorrhage when she gave birth to Helena, who was delivered with forceps and suction caps.

She underwent an emergency blood transfusion and was later rushed back to hospital to receive another six units — replacing most of the blood in her body.

“As soon as Helena was born I think I saw her for about two minutes. I held her to my chest then I remember shouting out, saying I am going to pass out,” recalled Rachel, a biology and applied science tutor at Oldham Sixth Form College.

“The bed went back, all the doctors came running in and about three midwives. They had to put me on saline because my blood pressure plummeted and give me an emergency blood transfusion.”

Rachel spent her first night on the delivery ward with Helena in a cot because she was too poorly to be moved. A day after she was discharged her heart rate dropped and she was rushed back for another transfusion.

“I had given blood a few times at college. I knew it was important but I never realised how important until I was in a situation where I needed blood very quickly,” added Rachel (30), who is married to Tony.

“Helena is fine and I am fine. She is just such a joy. I do think about what would have happened if I hadn’t survived and how Tony would have coped being a father for the first time and also being on his own. That would have been horrible for him.”

The age at which people can give blood was lowered to 17 in 2000 and the sixth form college has run blood donor session for students and staff since 2002.

Andrew Preston, course leader for AS maths, is the driving force behind a scheme which grew out of a conversation he had with a nurse while giving blood.

He was inspired by a former colleague, Pat Wells, who became a blood donor turned recipient when he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Pat, who worked with Andrew in Leeds, died soon after a recruitment drive for donors at the college sessions were named in his memory. Eleven have been held since 2002 with 1,184 different donors turning up and 98 per cent pledging to do so again.

At most at least one student has celebrated their 17th birthday by giving blood and Andrew said: “We have had a very positive response. The students have also taken their friends along. They feel great after doing it.”

The college’s webpage — blood.osfc.ac.uk — takes students through the process. It includes information on other types of donation and a link to information about religious views on the subject.

Andrew said that students from different ethnic backgrounds take part and added: “There is a wide racial mix in Oldham, but although some of us have different coloured skin we are united by our red blood.”

From February the college will host 10 donation sessions a year at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, where 32 students will give blood alongside the general public — potentially boosting blood supplies by up to 320 new donors each year.

One person who knows just how important it is to give blood is Victoria Price. The 17-year-old from Rochdale is studying physics, chemistry, biology and maths with statistics at the college and hopes to do forensic science at Oxford or Cambridge.

But it could all have been so different for Victoria who was rushed to hospital with knotted intestines when she was only two.

She explained: “They had to take me to hospital and give me four pints of blood while they operated to sort me out because I just kept losing blood.

“They had to sedate my dad while they were going through the blood bank trying to find a match he was so hysterical.”

Victoria was born with her intestines the wrong way round and her appendix, which was removed, on the wrong side.

She added: “It is just something I was born with and I understand it does usually come to light when you are about two.

“Nine out of 10 times it’s fatal. I know a paramedic’s son who died of it, he couldn’t get him to hospital on time.

“If I could find out who it was that gave blood I would give them a massive thank-you because it really saved my life.

“Without them I wouldn’t be here, I owe everything to them.”