Barclay's Story

On the 13th January 2015, our five year old Barclay was diagnosed with High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. He was admitted to Whangarei Hospital straight away and had his first blood and platelet transfusion.

The next day we were sent to Starship hospital to begin chemotherapy. In the first three months of treatment we stayed in Starship and Barclay received lots of blood transfusions. Over the past year he has had over 18 units of red cells, 13 units of platelets and also Intragam P a product made from plasma from donors.

Long story short: without the public donating blood Barclay would not be here. He owes his life to all the people who donate. For me - his mum – I can’t thank blood donors enough for doing such a simple act that really does save lives and has saved my son’s.

Barclay is now into the maintenance stage of his treatment and is due to finish in 2018; I’m sure he will still need more blood transfusions. From our family to you - THANK YOU!!