Pint for Mike

"It could be the fittest person you know," says Lorna, of people like her husband Mike, who sadly passed away with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2024. "It could be the healthiest person you know."

"Mike was fit and vibrant, a 6ft 4in former police officer. He was in the riot squad and had served in the Navy," says Lorna. Yet one day he found himself unusually breathless while putting fences up in the garden.

"A blood test showed he was very anaemic and leukaemia was confirmed the next day. It was incomprehensible that something like this could happen."

Unfortunately, not only was the leukaemia hard to reckon with, it was also incredibly aggressive.

Mike lost weight and his hair fell out. Lorna is sure that were it not for the 100 or more units of blood products he received, Mike wouldn't have made it beyond his diagnosis.

Invaluable time

Donated blood and platelets helped Mike's body cope with chemotherapy. The treatment enabled him to live an extra 16 months: invaluable time spent with Lorna and their two sons, Joseph and Lucas.

Both blood and platelets are frequently used to treat people with cancer. Nearly 70% of donated platelets, which help the body with clotting and stopping bleeding are used in cancer treatment.

"I will be forever indebted to those donors," says Lorna. "After Mike died, I knew I had to do something positive in his memory and encouraging people to give blood felt right."

A 'pint' for Mike

Lorna asked friends and family to donate a 'pint' in Mike's name. Although a blood donation may be just under a pint at 470ml, over 400 have been given and the campaign now has the backing of Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas, British and Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje, and TV presenter Michaela Strachan, who appear in Lorna's new video.

The video, produced in partnership with NHS Blood and Transplant, tells Mike's story alongside Mabel's.

Mabel, the 4-year-old daughter of a friend of Lorna's, also had treatment for leukaemia and received lifesaving blood and platelets.

Lorna, a former deputy headteacher who works in education, is particularly passionate about encouraging young people to start donating at 17 to help replace those who are too old or can no longer donate for medical reasons.

She has created an educational resource pack to take the blood donation message directly to secondary school students.

The right time

There is currently both a need for more people to register as blood donors and for existing blood donors to consider giving platelets. Donors with A negative, A positive, and AB negative blood types are in particularly high demand for platelet donation.

"It has been a year since we lost Mike, so the timing [of the video] is poignant," says Lorna. "But it feels the right time to share his story with a wider audience to shine a light on the life-changing power of blood donation.

"I have pledged to do a skydive when we reach 1,000 pints and I'm hopeful the campaign will continue to grow and reach many milestones beyond that."

Watch the Pint for Mike video – what's stopping you?