Girl, 13, will ‘bleed to death’ without donors

A girl whose life was saved by a bone marrow transplant from her brother has appealed to blood donors to come forward to keep her alive.

Devaanshi Mehta suffers from a rare disorder that means she is dependent on having a transfusion of blood cells called platelets every eight days - or she will bleed to death.

The 13-year-old from Harrow was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, which means her bone marrow does not make enough new blood cells, at 10.

She has had two successful bone marrow transplants from her five-year-old brother Dushyant, the first when he was just two, as well as stem cells from umbilical cord blood their mother had saved by chance when he was born. But through the transplant Devaanshi acquired her brother's rare B-negative blood type, which means that transfusion services struggle to get enough blood for her.

She said: "When I don't have enough platelets I get really exhausted and start to bleed from my eyes, nose and ears. When we can't get any platelets it panics me sometimes that there's not going to be anything and that I'm going to bleed until I go dry."

She added: "Me and my brother are quite close now and I always remember that he has donated to me. We're so lucky that Dushyant is here and that he was a match for me."

Her mother Kalyani today called for more action to encourage people to donate blood and other blood products. Mrs Mehta, 42, said she has to personally look for blood around the country to ensure that her daughter gets the supplies she needs, adding: "The NHS should be doing much more to promote donation within ethnic minority families. People are either misinformed or not informed, they have a misconception about donating."

Jon Latham of the NHS said: "Less than three and a half per cent of the total numbers of donors are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

"Donors with the blood group B Rh D negative are more often found in black and minority ethnic communities and more of these donors are particularly needed.

"Anyone thinking of donating should call our donor helpline on 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.blood.co.uk."

For more information, go to Devaanshi's blog at devaanshim.blogspot.com