Without blood donors Dundee mum Kerry Larmour and her two children wouldn’t be here today.
All three of them needed blood transfusions to survive.
Kerry faced life-threatening complications after giving birth to her son Joel who was born prematurely and needed a heart operation.
Her daughter Willow arrived more than three months before her due date and required life-saving treatment.
All three are incredibly grateful for the blood donations they received – giving them the gift of life.
That is why they are backing The Courier’s Be Our Blood campaign where we are asking people across Tayside, Fife and Stirling to register here and become a donor.
Every blood donation can save up to three lives, but currently less than 3% of eligible people in Scotland give blood.
The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service needs 500 more people become a donor in our area this year.
The Larmour family are just one example of the many lives which have been saved thanks to blood donors.
Here is their story.
How blood donations saved Dundee mum
In 2010 Kerry, who was working as a nurse at Ninewells Hospital at the time, was pregnant with her and Adam’s first child, Joel.
But during her pregnancy she developed pre-eclampsia – a condition that causes high blood pressure in expectant mothers.
As a result the then 26-year-old ended up having a c-section with Joel being born prematurely on November 26 at 27 weeks.
“In the days after having Joel I was really unwell,” Kerry explains.
“I had had a C-section but wasn’t recovering and I didn’t know why.
“I didn’t see Joel for the first five days after he was born.
“On the third day I tried to get out of bed as I wanted to see him.
“But I ended up collapsing and being put on oxygen. I just knew something wasn’t right.”
A doctor examined Kerry and found she was bleeding internally.
Emergency surgery
As a result Kerry was admitted for emergency surgery straight away.
“They rushed me down and by the time I got to theatre my blood pressure had crashed,” she says.
“I was aware of what was happening – because of my nursing experience.
“So I was shouting that they would have to get me blood and put me to sleep otherwise I was going to die.
“When I woke up they told me they had been able to stop the bleeding but I had lost a lot of blood.
“I had had a massive internal bleed due to complications from the Caesarean section.
“But after being three pints of blood, I recovered quite quickly.
“I didn’t realise until after this happened that there is a unit of blood sitting for every mother going into hospital to have a baby.
“This is because blood loss can be a complication after pregnancy.”
Kerry, who now works as a health and social care lecturer at Dundee and Angus College, adds: “I had donated blood regularly since I was 18 but I never thought in a million years that I would ever need it.
“It saved my life.”
Baby Joel spent 103 days in hospital
Joel, who is now 14 years old, only weighed 1lb 80z when he was born at 27 weeks.
Due to being born prematurely, he had problems with his heart which caused breathing difficulties so required ventilation for the first three months of his life.
Premature babies are at higher risk for anaemia (not having enough red blood cells) because their bodies haven’t fully developed the ability to produce red blood cells efficiently.
And they may also lose blood more easily during medical procedures.
Kerry says: “Joel had a total of eight blood transfusions throughout the 103 days he was in hospital.
“His spleen and bone marrow was immature so he wasn’t able to make red blood cells as quickly.
“We started to realise when he needed a blood transfusion because he would go really pale and needed more oxygen.
“About a month after he was born he also had to be transferred to Yorkhill Hospital for a heart operation.
“He needed blood for that too.”
Willow arrived three months premature
Meanwhile, Willow, 10, was due to be born on November 30, 2014.
As Kerry had had problems with Joel’s birth, medics were monitoring her closely during her second pregnancy.
After the 20-week scan doctors told Kerry her baby girl was likely to be premature as she was very small.
She ended up arriving more than three months early on August 29.
Kerry says: “When I knew she was going to be born early the first thing I did was to check with Gwen (from Dundee Blood Donor Centre) to make sure there was enough blood.
“Willow was born by C-section at 26 weeks and she weighed lb 2oz.
“She was a lot sicker than Joel was when she was born.
“She had a few complications so I can’t remember exactly how many blood transfusions she had, but I remember she had a few.
“She was in hospital for the same amount of time as Joel – 103 days.”
‘You don’t know when you might need blood’
Kerry and Adam, 42, have both given blood over the years although since her transfusion, Kerry is no longer able to.
However, due to her experience and how the donations saved her family, she would encourage as many people as possible to come forward and donate.
“Myself, Joel and Willow wouldn’t be here without blood donations,” she says.
“We are so grateful to those blood donors.
“This selfless act saved our lives – along with the speedy interventions from medical staff.
“I never ever thought I would need blood but you just never know when you might need it.
“Everyone has different blood types and if you have lost a lot of blood you just automatically expect it to be there.”
She adds: “Don’t just assume you can’t give blood, staff can check if you are eligible.
“And the staff doing it are all experts – they will be with you the whole time if you feel anxious about it.
“It doesn’t take long and at the end of the day you could save someone’s life.”
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