A former Wallabies player and his wife are thanking the blood donors who helped save their three-year-old daughter’s life during her battle with leukaemia as Lifeblood Australia starts its Christmas donations blitz.
Charli McCabe, aged three, has spent the last 15 months in hospital undergoing aggressive treatment for leukaemia.
Her parents, Pat McCabe and his wife Tammy, say it was the toughest time of their life, as their daughter underwent 24 blood transfusions during treatment.
“What the kids go through at the Sydney Children’s Hospital is something that you kind of have to see to believe,” Pat McCabe said.
“She’s been through so much, we’re both incredibly proud (of) the way she’s handled herself.”
Charli received chemotherapy, immunotherapy and stem cells from the frozen umbilical cord of a boy overseas.
They are not aware of who donated the blood and stem cells, but they wanted to give them “a massive thank you”.
“We just know it’s a boy in the state’s, he’s now 13 years old, healthy and it was basically a perfect match,” Tammy McCabe said.
“She’s had 24 blood transfusions, one child, just shows how important it is.”
Charli is now out of the hospital and back to playing.
It comes as Lifeblood starts its national blood blitz to ensure there are no shortages over the Christmas Period.
“We usually see appointments drop over the festive season. People are travelling, they’re out of their normal routines,” Australian Red Cross Lifeblood spokesperson Carley Byrne said.
Lifeblood will need 2000 donors a day from now until January 2 to avoid a shortage.
A large portion of donated blood is used to make platelets for cancer and trauma patients.
Blood types O and A are currently in low supply.
