Donating an hour of your time would not cost much, except for a bag of platelets, but it went a long way to improve the life of cancer patients, a Conventual Franciscan said.
Fr Mario Sant, 35, is one of two Conventual Franciscans who are based in London and who see to the spiritual needs of Maltese patients and their relatives during their stay there for treatment.
When he is in Malta on a break, he helps out patients in another way: donating blood platelets, which are mainly used for cancer treatment.
As Fr Sant was speaking to the Times of Malta, blood donors received an appeal from the National Blood Transfusion Service unit because blood supply is still low.
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At the beginning of the month, the unit had issued an appeal because the 50 bags needed daily were not being collected and if the situation persisted, patients requiring blood transfusions would have to wait.
Tony Micallef, the practice nurse in charge of donor liaison, said the demand remained high following some accidents. The reserve usually dipped around this time of the year, mainly because of the heat, and the unit hoped that, as the weather became cooler, more people would pluck up the courage to donate blood.
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Fr Sant has been donating blood since he turned 18, following in his parents’ footsteps. He started donating platelets last year when he realised the high demand for the blood product.
Fr Sant made his first donation a few days before losing a close friend, Trevor Mercieca, to leukaemia.
Mr Mercieca, who needed about 65 bags of blood in his last six months and a bag of platelets every day, used to describe donations as a “daily gift of life”, his wife Claire had told this newspaper.
Fr Sant met Mr Mercieca, who was like a brother to him, during one of his trips to London for treatment.
“Despite his deteriorating condition, I learnt a lot from Trevor and we became close friends. I realised he needed a bag of platelets every day, apart from regular blood.
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“Around that same time, a doctor told me I could donate platelets and I didn’t mull over it. I knew Trevor needed platelets and I started donating,” Fr Sant recalled. Together with his colleague, Fr Stephen Borg, also a blood donator, Fr Sant visits patients and their relatives at some 15 hospitals in the London area or at the apartments where they would be staying.
Sometimes, they are called during emergencies to morally and spiritually support the relatives when a patient is nearing the end of his life.
While the numbers fluctuate, they see about 60 patients over two weeks and accompany the families through the best and worst moments of their treatment journey.
Donating blood
The blood donation centre, situated adjacent to St Luke’s Hospital, is open from Monday to Sunday between 8am and 6pm. Donors can also go to the Gozo General Hospital’s outpatients department every other Sunday from 8am till 1pm and every alternate Tuesday from 1pm till 5pm.
For updated information one can look up National Blood Transfusion Service – Malta on Facebook or download the blood donors MT app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
Donors should take their identity card, driving licence or Maltese passport with them. Those who wish to give blood and have returned from abroad over the past four weeks should call on 8007 4313 to check whether they are eligible.
Log on to health.gov.mt/en/nbts for more information.