I used to think that blood donations were mainly for accident Victims and people that had operations. But now I know better. This gift is used in many ways of which helps many people, adults and many children alike…for cancer, burn victims, haemophilia and other similar medical conditions. As a parent of three children, two of which are blood transfusion dependant we know how important BLOOD Donors are. Our children were diagnosed with a genetic blood disorder called Sickle cell thalassaemia in 1994. The children were 2yo and 1yo at the time.
Sickle thalassaemia is an inherited condition of which our children live with every day. They are two blood disorders combined into one. People with sickle cell disorders can experience attacks of extreme pain. They have a shortage of red blood cells and are more likely to have serious, life threatning infections and damage to major organs. People with thalassaemia disorders are very severly anemic and as a result they need blood transfusions every four to six weeks, and infusions or injections of other medicines throughout their lives to help prevent further illness.
What does that all mean?
Basically, sickle cell thalassaemia is a condition that causes their bodies to produce blood cells that last approximately 12 days as compared to a person that dosent have the condition that lasts approximately 120 days. This means that their body is working so much harder to produce the correct blood levels.
