World Blood Donor Day – Safe Blood for Saving Mothers
Saturday 14th of June is World Blood Donor Day, which this year has a focus on safe blood for saving mothers. Even in these modern times, childbirth can still be an extremely dangerous time for women, particularly in the Third World. Every day, about 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. This can be severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth, and I speak from my own experience when I say that what should be the happiest moment of your life can very quickly become a living nightmare.
My son Joe was born by caesarian section at 33 weeks. The operation seemed routine and I was fine in the immediate aftermath. But an hour after the birth I haemorraghed, not once, but four times, losing an enormous amount of blood and ending up in intensive care. A blood transfusion saved my life, meaning that I am still around to enjoy life with my wonderful son and husband. But many women are not as lucky as I was, and that is why the World Health Organisation has deemed June 14th as World Blood Donor Day, with a focus on mothers.
Why Give Blood?
Giving blood is an important service that we can do for one another, but unfortunately many people never consider it to be something they would do. This can be down to many reasons, fear of injections, scared of the pain, on religious grounds, not having the time to do it, worrying about how the blood is handled, despite the use of blood bag labels to ensure this is done safely – the list is literally endless. The frightening fact is that while 25% of us will need blood in our lifetime, only 4% of the UK population actually give blood. Beneden Health has been conducting its own blood donation survey to try to establish the reasons people don’t give blood, and also to help understand the common preconceptions that people have about giving blood. (You can take the survey and read some of its findings here.)
Giving Blood
The good news is that giving blood is easy, there are blood donation centres all over the UK. Click on the map below to find your nearest centre.
Of course, not everyone can give blood – after having a transfusion I am now myself sadly exempt. But the fact remains that most people can help to save lives, with each single donation helping as many as three people, many of them new mother’s. So make sure you add World Blood Donor Day to your diary for this weekend, and help to save lives.
Post in collaboration with Benenden Health to support Blood Donor Day.
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9 Comments
Honest Mum
I was commissioned to write about this amazing cause too, so sorry to hear what you went through and so glad you were helped and here today. Such a vital cause x
Jess
Gosh it’s surprising to hear stories like yours. We all know things can go wrong in childbirth but I think we also think we are ultimately safe. Sadly this is not always the case. Glad that your story had a happy end.
I don’t give blood as I’m very queasy about injections,I wish I wasn’t though or I would seriously think about it. Great post! Spreading awareness is such a good thing 🙂
Fashion40ish
Bless you Emma. I knew you had had a tough time but I didn’t realise what you had been through. Sending hugs and thank you for a brilliant post. H xx
Porcelina
What an important issue to raise awareness of, and thank you for sharing your own personal story.
I’m afraid I am one of those people that hasn’t given blood. I really hope to overcome my fear of medical procedures in the future, but I think it might take some therapy to do so, as it’s really bad and I can faint just walking into a hospital, or from hearing somebody talking about an injection. It’s more than just a dislike of needles, it’s a phobia. Just thinking about it now makes me feel highly anxious, I’ll have to put my head between my knees in a minute!
My sister gives blood regularly, and my OH has just signed up to be on the bone marrow register, I’m really proud of them both.
x
fashion-mommy
Not everyone can do it, my sister is very squeamish and it actually makes her sick and she faints if faced by blood, but do hope more people who could give blood have took that step this weekend.x
fashion-mommy
Thank you.xxxx
fashion-mommy
Thank you. I guess we do think that because we are living in the 21st century,and in the 1st world, bad things don’t happen after childbirth, but they do, and what happened to me is more common than people think. Thanks for stopping by.x
fashion-mommy
It is an absolutely crucial cause – hope we are just playing a small part in improving donations of blood.x
In Mama's Wardrobe
Isn’t it terrible that women still suffer so in childbirth these days? I can’t imagine what you went through with Joe & its so lovely to see all your photos of days out together knowing how special he is! Ax