Men! Please give blood this Mother's Day
Moonpig has partnered with NHS Blood and Transplant to create a bespoke range of Mother’s Day cards that encourages dads and sons to give the gift of donating blood. I was happy they asked me to share this campaign with you because this is a cause very close to my heart. Here’s a pic of my gorgeous boy with one of the special cards!
In May 2017, my unborn baby boy and I nearly died due to a heterotopic pregnancy, which I’ve written about here, part of what made this life-threatening was the blood I lost. I had four litres of blood in my abdomen. I was very lucky to have the blood transfusion I needed. I’m forever indebted to all blood donors for their generosity. My experience has encouraged my family to donate more regularly and I hope this campaign will help others do the same.
Some stats behind this campaign:
Around 4,000 women a year suffer severe bleeds following childbirth and around 50,000 units of blood are used for transfusions during delivery.
62% of dads are unaware that blood loss at childbirth is one of the leading uses of blood donation and therefore were unaware of the risks.
To keep the banks full, the NHSBT needs to recruit around 400 new donors and maintain 5,000 donations every day.
10% of all the card sales will be donated to Mind
More than one in four Dads (27%) say they feel indebted to their partner after seeing all they go through during childbirth and a further 39% think it’s important to thank their partner for everything they do as a mum.
Last year, only 41% of new donors were men, so it’s vitally important than more men try donating for the first time.
The NHS needs 400 new donors every day to keep a strong donor base and maintain 5,000 donations every day.
The blood donation Mother's Day range is exclusively available now through Moonpig here. Buy the cards and share this campaign far and wide. Of course, we can’t go out and donate blood right now but we can buy the cards, raise awareness and book an appointment to give blood later in the year.
“Registering as a new donor may not seem like a traditional Mother’s Day gift but it really is something meaningful you can do to celebrate mums and save lives. Giving blood is amazing and so we hope the cards will encourage more fathers to save lives by signing up to donate.”