Mum backs campaign after vital operation

Jane Smith, 57, of Jespers Hill, Faringdon, is backing the Oxford Mail’s Gift of Life campaign to sign up 1,000 new donors in a month, after she received a vital transfusion during an emergency hysterectomy four years ago.

But the mother-of-one, who needed several pints of blood during the operation, is not allowed to donate blood herself because of strict National Blood Service rules.

She said: “It’s one of the things I always wished I’d done.

“Having had the benefit of it I now want to help other people by teaching them how important it is to give blood.

“I was in so much pain before my operation, a real state.

“I couldn’t teach, I couldn’t even walk up the stairs. But now I’m charging about everywhere.”

Mrs Smith developed growths called fibroids in her uterus, which had grown so large she had to undergo an emergency operation to remove her womb, during which surgeons used several pints of blood.

Under NBS rules, people cannot donate if they have received blood during the course of any medical treatment or procedure anywhere in the world since 1980.

For the last four years Mrs Smith, her husband Godfrey, 60, and their 15-year-old son Matthew, have been trying to raise awareness of how important donating blood is.

She said: “Now I’ve got my life back and it’s all because of a selfless person who gave their blood.

“I would say to people, although you may be scared about the actual process of donating, and although you may feel it doesn’t matter if you don’t, when you are the one in surgery who needs it, you are so, so grateful to these wonderful people.

“You can literally save people’s lives for half an hour of your time. I just wish I had taken the time to do it myself.”

To join our campaign to sign up 1,000 new blood donors and give the gift of life, fill in the form on this page or visit our website oxfordmail.co.uk Have you given or received blood? Call reporter Amanda Williams on 01865 425426 or email her at awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk