Lying down in the hospital, hooked up to a transfusion machine, Rachel Bezzina would often wonder who had donated the blood that allowed her to receive treatment for cancer.
Five years on, the 20-year-old bodybuilder will be meeting a group of 17 donors made up of men who have donated more than 105 times and women who have donated at least 50 times.
They will be at an event marking World Blood Donor Day, organised by the National Blood Transfusion Unit and the Office of the President to thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gift.
Tony Micallef, the practice nurse in charge of donor liaison at the unit in Pietá, noted that the ceremony would not be remunerating donors, but rather acknowledging them as role models, in the hope that others will follow suit.
According to the unit’s records, the highest number of donations – 133 – was made by Joe Baldacchino.
Tonight, I will only be meeting some of the donors, but I want to tell them all that they have literally given my parents back their daughter
There are at least 50,000 registered donors, with some 10,000 being active, meaning they donate at least once a year. This results in around 18,000 transfusions per year, benefiting around 4,500 patients.
Ms Bezzina was one of these patients when, at age 15, she was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma – cancer of the muscle tissue. Every three weeks for two years, Ms Bezzina was given blood to support her immune system so that she would be able to cope with a chemotherapy cycle.
She was always warned that she might have to wait for some days if there was an overnight accident where the victim would need blood transfusion.
This would push back her treatment, which is more effective the sooner it is administered, as such emergency cases take precedence over planned interventions.
“Thank God for blood donors: I never had to wait. I would often sit there, in my bed, and tell my parents: ‘I wonder who gave that blood’,” the young woman, who is now well and training in bodybuilding told this newspaper.
“My parents stool by my side throughout, and I often felt helpless. I couldn’t tell them anything to comfort them, because my life was in the hands of God, the doctors and the donors.
“Tonight, I will only be meeting some of the donors, but I want to tell them all that they have literally given my parents back their daughter.”
Her father, Natalino Bezzina, has been a donor for 30 years, and apart from supporting his daughter, donating blood was the only way he could help her.
Because of his managerial post within the Civil Protection Department, he has met several victims of road accidents, and he has always been anxious about his relatives ending up in a similar situation.
“You are never prepared for a diagnosis, and when we were given the news about Rachel, it was comforting to know that I could do something useful and donate blood,” he said.
It was also comforting to look around at other donors at the unit in Pietà, knowing that the donated blood was going to support his daughter’s treatment.
“It is the most worthy thing you can do that not even money can buy. There can never be an allocated budget to buy life in case blood reserves went low,” he told this newspaper.
The daily demand is 50 bags, and blood supply has so far always managed to cover requests. Demand is increasing as a result of success in treating diseases such as cancer and planned operations, Mr Micallef noted.
The next challenge will be to reduce the number of traffic accidents, with the number of injuries caused by traffic accidents having increased by 29 per cent in the first three months of this year, compared to last year.
The National Blood Transfusion adjacent to St Luke’s Hospital in Pietà is open from Monday to Sunday between 8am and 6pm.
More information is available on https://health.gov.mt/en/nbts.
Upcoming blood drives:
• June 19, St Vincent de Paul, Luqa (8.30am to 1pm)
• June 21, Gozo General Hospital (1pm to 5pm)
• June 26, Żejtun parish church (8.30 am till 1pm) and Gozo General Hospital (8am to 1pm)