Three generations of Blairgowrie family receive life-saving blood transfusions

by · The Courier

Three generations of the same Perthshire family have received life-saving blood transfusions.

Isabella MacKay became the third member of her family to receive a transfusion after needing emergency blood when she was born.

She will now celebrate her first Christmas alongside gran Donna Webster, 61, and mum Lauren Webster, 35, who have also previously needed blood transfusions.

Donna, from Blairgowrie, said: “Isabella was born in January 2024 and received emergency blood straight after her delivery.

Blairgowrie family’s first Christmas with baby Isabella after blood transfusion

“I received blood after the birth of Lauren. Lauren then needed blood aged 15 due to sepsis.

“She has now become a mother herself to baby Isabella.

“This means we have three happy and healthy generations in our family, all thanks to blood donors.

“Looking forward to Isabella’s first Christmas this year is particularly poignant.”

The family are now calling for people to give blood over the festive period.

Isabella needed an emergency transfusion when she was born. Image: NHS
Isabella was poorly at birth. Image: NHS

Donna added: “We’d like to remind donors that your gift keeps on giving for many years – or in our case many generations.

“We cannot thank you all enough.

“We would like to encourage everyone to consider giving blood, platelets or plasma this Christmas.”

Debbie McNaughton, associate director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS), said: “There are currently 96,726 blood donors in Scotland.

“Whilst we are very grateful to them, our donor base still has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

“It is very important we welcome more new donors.

Three generations of the same family have needed blood transfusions. Image: NHS
Isabella will celebrate her first Christmas. Image: NHS

“We’d also love to welcome younger donors – you can start giving blood age 17, but we notice up to 50% fewer 17-year-olds coming forward from five years ago. As Scotland faces an ageing population, this poses a significant challenge.”

She added: “This year we’re also excited to launch an additional campaign for people to donate plasma for medicines, which can be used to treat over 50 diseases, including babies with haemolytic disease – an inherited condition which affects red blood cells.

“Currently, we have 800 plasma donors in Scotland and we hope to welcome another 1,000 plasma donors in the next 12 months.

“You can donate plasma in any of our blood donor centres in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.”