'Without blood transfusions I wouldn't be here'

Matthew Allick says he was given a second chance at life thanks to blood transfusions

A man whose heart stopped beating for 10 minutes has thanked blood donor staff for providing the service that he said saved his life.

Matthew Allick, 42, from Ealing, west London, suffered a heart attack caused by a pulmonary embolism in 2023 and received seven blood transfusions after blood clots were discovered in his heart and lungs.

The father of two spent two years in rehabilitation and had to relearn the basics of life, from feeding himself to walking.

"Without blood transfusions I wouldn't be here today. The left side of my body was filled with clots. Having the right blood ready and waiting gave me a second chance at life," Mr Allick said.

'Wonderful reminder'

He credited the blood transfusions as saving his life, and visited NHS Blood and Transplant's (NHSBT) West End donor centre to thank staff for providing the service.

"We often don't realise how critical blood donation is until we're on the receiving end. Someone's decision to give blood saved my life. And that's what I want more people to realise," Mr Allick said.

He hopes to encourage more people from black heritage communities to donate blood.

Although the blood used to treat Mr Allick's emergency situation came from donors of a range of ethnicities, the NHS said it needed more black donors so that it can provide ethnically matched blood to treat a range of conditions.

NHSBT West End donor centre manager Carolyn Roost said: "Matthew's visit is a wonderful reminder of the acute relevance of NHSBT's work.

"His visit puts a face to many thousands of people a year whose lives have been saved and improved by the generosity of the capital's blood donors."

Dee Thiruchelvam, NHSBT chief nursing officer, said they needed an extra 16,000 black heritage blood donors this year.