“The birthday I didn’t think I would have”

Birthdays are occasions where we often express our gratitude, but Elliott Wills says he only experienced his 14th birthday thanks to blood donors.

Elliott, who lives with the blood disorder spherocytosis, needed to be given 7 litres of blood when he suffered a burst main artery after a routine surgery.

Spherocytosis causes spherical red blood cells which have a short lifespan and break down more easily, leading to severe anaemia, fatigue, and jaundice, among other health problems.

To stay well, Elliott has regularly been given transfusions of B negative blood, which matches his own type. After a virus left him with health complications last year, however, he needed to have his spleen and gall bladder removed.

The 5-hour surgery, aided by 3 units of B negative blood, had appeared to go well, but later that evening, Elliott's blood pressure plummeted. An emergency ultrasound revealed massive internal bleeding.

"The alarm went off and a tannoy call went out for the crash team to scan room 1. The room Elliott was in," says Elliott's dad Phill. "The doctor appeared and told me: 'It doesn't look good'. He said Elliott had lost a drastic amount of blood.

"All of a sudden people appeared from nowhere. A chain of porters came running past me carrying bags of blood. As they whisked Elliott away I had just enough time to tell him I loved him."

Elliott soon began to bleed out the donated blood as fast as it could be transfused. He needed 23 units – 7 litres – of blood products to save his life: 3 times his body's circulatory volume.

In these kind of emergencies, O negative blood is used. O negative is called the 'universal' type because it can be given to anyone safely. About 8% of the population has O negative blood but it accounts for around 16% of hospital red blood cell requests.

Although he had to be put in an induced coma and endured seizures, Elliott recovered enough to return to school in April. The avid Manchester United fan is back playing football with his friends again.

"Elliott is kicking a ball about again and that is because blood donors gave him a second chance at life," says Phill. "While Elliott was packing his hospital bag, someone out there was donating the blood that would save his life.

"Donors are heroes and so are the NHS teams who get the blood from the donor's arm into the veins of a desperately ill patient like Elliott."

We need regular donations to maintain supply of blood to hospitals. To book an appointment to give blood, log in to your online account.

"Thank you to everyone who gives blood. It helped saved my life," says Elliott. "If you are thinking of giving blood please do.

"My 14th birthday was one I didn't think I would have. Thank you, blood donors for my gift of life."