Blood transfusions 'absolutely critical' for Essex boy Henry

Parents of a two-year-old boy with a rare blood disease are appealing for more donors to keep their appointments over the festive period.

Henry, from Harwich in Essex, has Diamond-Blackfan anaemia and is unable to make his own red blood cells. It means he needs a transfusion every three weeks to stay alive.

NHS Blood and Transport needs 6,000 donations a day to meet the needs of patients across England. One in four appointments were cancelled in the week before Christmas last year, it said.

"As a family we are indebted to those strangers who choose to donate, in particular over the festive period," Henry's father Craig Alderson said.