Give blood – donations saved my life, says Caldicot mum (From South Wales Argus)

Give blood – donations saved my life, says Caldicot mum

By David Deans »

A GWENT woman who underwent a life-saving transfusion is now the face of blood donation in Wales.

MANY THANKS: Kim Jones, 32, who needed blood after the birth of her daughter Emily and who is now the face of blood donation in Wales

Kim Jones, 32, found herself needing extra blood after the birth of her daughter, Emily.

Now thousands could read her story when donors open letters from the Welsh Blood Service asking them for donations.

Ms Jones, from Caldicot, said her pregnancy had been a breeze.

“But push came to shove, so to speak, and everything went wrong,” she said.

“It was an emergency and I basically lost all of the blood in my body and it had to be replaced. I haemorrhaged, but Emily was fine.”

Ms Jones, who works for the Office of National Statistics in Newport, has given blood since she went to university but had never known she would need it herself.

Once both Ms Jones and Emily were home Ms Jones wrote an email to the Welsh Blood Service in gratitude.

Within a day the service got in touch and the two quickly became the story that thousands of donors would read when they open letters fromthe agency,who have reprinted her thank-you word for word.

“I’m always a person to say ‘thank you’ so I just wrote an email to say ‘thank you’ to the anonymous donors, to the ladies and gents, to the nurses, even for the administrative staff, just to say ‘thank you’,” she said.

Ms Jones urged everyone not to ignore the letters: “If you are afraid of needles just look the otherway and think about the tea and biscuits at the end. Just do it.”

The Welsh Blood Service holds regular blood donor sessions for staff at ONS. To contact the service call 0800 25 22 66.