A woman who had her life saved by antibody medicine left NHS staff and donors in tears.
Simone Simon, aged 54 from Harrow, visited staff at the Stratford donor centre to thank them for the “liquid gold” plasma that helped her fight potentially life threatening infections.
She relies on donated plasma as her cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator disorder means that she cannot fight infections herself –with her particularly vulnerable to lung infections.
Plasma donation only restarted this year after a break of more than 20 years and the NHS is now calling for more than 1,000 donations a week.
When she entered the plasma donor centre, she was met with a round of applause.
Simone (right) with her lifesaving donor Albert
She told staff: “I rely on all of you to take that plasma to save my life and I am so thankful to you I can’t even begin to put it into words.”
Her visit was filmed by NHS Blood and Transplant for a new video to raise awareness of plasma donation.
As her team wiped away tears, Session Sister Lorna Philips said: “To see Simone come in today; she said was so emotional, so thankful, so grateful. I am so happy to see we are helping someone.”
Her genetic condition means that mucus collects in her lungs, leaving her at risk of serious chest infections and complications.
During the pandemic, she was hospitalised after going 14 weeks without treatment because of the hospital going on lockdown.
Plasma donation takes around an hour. The donor’s blood is gradually run through a machine which separates out the plasma, before returning the blood back into the donor.
To donate plasma, visit blood.co.uk/plasma
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