Members of Wyndham’s multicultural community came together on Saturday to encourage blood donation and celebrate those whose lives donors had saved.
DonateLife Victoria and Lifeblood held the joint event at Lifeblood’s Werribee Donor Centre on May 4 to recognise the ongoing support of several multicultural blood donation teams, including Melbourne Grand Mosque, St James the Apostle Parish, Albanian Australian Islamic Society (AAIS), Hamro Community and Mahamevnawa Buddhist Meditation Centre – Melbourne West.
Donors from these teams also had the chance to hear first hand from someone whose life their blood donations saved.
Seventeen-year-old Hussein Ahmed received a blood and kidney transplant from Donate Life and was on hand to share his story and explain the synergy between blood donations and organ donations in giving life.
“The day we received the phone call that a kidney was available for me was a very good day. It bought tears to my mother’s eyes,” recalled Hussein.
“Receiving a donated kidney helped me and my family move forward and live happier and healthier lives. I encourage everyone to register to become blood donors and to join the Australian Organ Donor Register because you never know who you may help.”
Lifeblood donor experience executive director Cath Stone said it was powerful to hear from a patient who had received the gift of life from others.
“Hussein needed a number of blood transfusions prior to receiving a kidney. As a result of these two incredible acts of generosity, he can live a healthy life,” she said.
Demand for blood and blood products is at a 10-year high due to population growth and Ms Stone said more donors from culturally and linguistically diverse communities were needed to reflect the population.
“Blood types consist not only of the commonly recognised groups such as A, B and O, but also include more than 300 other variants. Some are specific to cultural background, so it is important to Lifeblood
to have a broad cross-section of the community donating to meet the needs of all patients.”
Cade Lucas
