Call for more plasma donors in Berks and north Hants
Reading is one of only three donor centres in the country but the NHS needs hundreds of people to donate
The NHS is celebrating the unique difference the regional community of 3,200 local plasma donors who donate at Reading Plasma Donor Centre make to around 17,000 people in England who need lifesaving medicines made from their donated plasma and calling on more people to come forward and donate.
Plasma is part of your blood. It’s a yellow liquid which carries everything around the body, including antibodies. During donation, a machine gradually separates out up to 700mls of plasma from your blood. Donation takes about 35 minutes and the whole visit – including questionnaires and snacks - takes around one hour 15 minutes.
Reading is currently one of only three dedicated plasma donation centres in the country. Plasma is also recovered from whole blood donations taken across England.
Easy
A spokesperson for NHS Blood and Transplant said:
“There is a growing need for the unique medicines made from plasma which is used to treat over 50 diseases.
“We need around 600 more people to donate plasma at Reading Plasma Centre this year to help save even more lives.
“It’s as easy as giving blood and takes around an hour. If you’re the giving type, please book an appointment today.”
Emma's story
Emma Stone said immunoglobulin medicine was ‘like a miracle’ after she began treatment for a rare disease.
Emma, aged 38, of Lower Earley in Reading, developed the rare autoimmune disease chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).
Over around six months, she went from experiencing pins and needles in her hands, to often needing a wheelchair to leave the house.
Her immune system had began attacking the nerves that send signals to her muscles.
Emma, a mum of two, said: “It was very scary and it was very traumatic for my children to see. The treatment has given my kids their mum back again.”
She started to notice weakness in her hands and legs in December 2020, followed by pins and needles. Her nerves became numb - she stopped being able to feel hot water.
By summer 2021, she could only walk small distances at home. Her limbs became almost paralysed. She often needed a wheelchair to go outside. Her mobility kept deteriorating through the year.
Emma, a beautician, said: “I basically couldn’t do anything that required your arms of legs. I could not lifting anything, I could not get in and out of the bath or even lift a drink or food to my mouth without a struggle, there was no way I could cut up my own food, dress myself or wash my own hair.
“I tried to keep active. On better days, if my mum came and did my make up, and somebody drove me, I could just about sit in a chair out with friends.”
CIPD is progressive. If it’s not caught early, people can suffer permanent loss of mobility in their arms and legs, including the permanent need for a wheelchair, and the permanent loss of use of their arms.
“It was very frustrating and very scary. At first the doctors thought it was multiple sclerosis because a cousin has it. They also thought it could be caused by a rare cancer.
“They diagnosed CIPD with nerve conduction tests and a lumbar puncture. It was a relief at first that I had an answer to what was happening to me but then petrifying when I found out more, that it was incurable."
Emma was diagnosed in January 2022 and had intensive treatment with immunoglobulin soon afterwards.
Immunoglobulin is a medicine made from the antibodies found in plasma donations.
Emma said: “The initial treatment was the ‘rescue treatment’.
"The effect was like a miracle. Within about four weeks it had made a huge difference and I could move almost normally again. It was amazing.
“However there is a likelihood you will relapse without ongoing treatment. But my consultant had to present a case for me to get ongoing treatment because immunoglobulin is in high demand and it’s very expensive.
“Thanks to my wonderful neurologist I was approved for ongoing intravenous immunoglobulin.”
Every three weeks, Emma now goes into Royal Berkshire Hospital to have three infusions of immunoglobulin over three days. Each infusion takes around four hours and she receives around 25g of immunoglobulin during each infusion.
Emma said: “I am not 100% but I am pretty much 95%.
“Immunoglobulin has just changed my life completely. It’s enabled me to work again, to be a mum again. It keeps stable so I won’t dip again.
“It allows me to have my life back. I’d got quite depressed when I couldn’t do normal stuff with my kids, like pushing them on a swing, picking them up when they fell, carrying them to bed and turning the pages on the book at night time story, my 7 year old was a life saver, helping care for me, helping me up when I fell and helping get his 4 year old brother ready for nursery, even doing their packed lunch with my guidance as my hands just didn’t work.
“I’ve met quite a few other people at the hospital who said it has changed their life too.
“It’s changing my life, giving me back my life as a mum and giving vinnie back his life as a little boy and it’s helping me live with having CIDP. I want to see it change so many more lives.
“Most people have never heard of plasma or immunoglobulin. Many of my friends have now donated plasma and they said they had no idea how easy it was to donate.
“I’d just say to all the wonderful people donating, thank you, you are giving my kids a mum back, and saving my family.
“It was very scary for my children when mummy relapses and ends up back in hospital but that changed forever thanks to this lifesaving medicine.”
How to donate
If you’re the giving type, search ‘donate plasma’ and book an appointment at www.blood.co.uk/plasma.
Reading Plasma Donor Centre is located on the Ground floor, Kennett Place, 121 King’s Road, Reading, RG1 3ES. The centre is open on weekdays, evenings, and weekends.