• Just one pint of donated blood can help save as many as three people’s lives.
• Someone needs blood every TWO seconds!
• The NHS need more donors from all blood groups and types. In particular there is a need for more people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
• It takes up to ten minutes to make a blood donation.
• A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 units of blood…
• Most people between the ages of 17-65 are able to give blood. But around half of registered donors are over 45.
• A blood transfusion involves taking blood from one person (the donor) and giving it to someone else and can be needed for a number of reasons, including:- to replace blood lost during major surgery, childbirth or a severe accident, to treat anaemia that has failed to respond to other treatments; anaemia is a condition where a person has low levels of red blood cells, to treat inherited blood disorders, such as thalassaemia or sickle cell anaemia.
• Around one in four of us will need blood at some point in our lives.
• Cancer treatments can reduce the number of red blood cells in the blood. This is called anaemia. Sometimes cancer can also cause anaemia. A blood transfusion can relieve the symptoms of anaemia.
• You CAN donate blood if you carry the Sickle Cell Trait!
• There are more than 2 million people of African and Caribbean descent living in the UK, yet only 1% are registered blood donors…
• There is usually less than a weeks supply of blood in the UK’s blood banks at any one time.
• Your blood donation could keep someone alive…
