‘Before midnight' blood cells helped save life of UCLH patient

A UCLH patient saved by special 'before midnight' transfusions has urged more people to donate blood as the NHS makes an urgent appeal.

Fahreen Virani needed urgent transfusions of granulocytes, white blood cells which swallow up bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

They're made from normal blood donations but need to be quickly tested and processed then rushed to hospital so they can be given before midnight the day after donation.

Granulocytes are the rarest blood component made from blood donations to NHS Blood and Transplant, they have the shortest shelf life, and they are the costliest for NHSBT to collect and make, costing around 20 times more to make than a standard pack of red blood cells.

NHSBT sent more granulocytes to UCLH last year than any other hospital.

Fahreen received them for a fungal infection so she could have a lifesaving stem cell transplant for leukaemia. She was cared for by the haematology team led by Dr Kavita Raj.

Fahreen said she now thanks blood donors "in my prayers every night" after the product gave her a "lifeline".

"I remember waking up early every day thinking 'are they here, are they here?'" said Fahreen, aged 42, a married dentist from Waltham Forest.

"If you go past midnight, they have to dispose of them, they expire, that’s why I was always so eager.

"I knew this would lessen the fungal pneumonia and that then I would be fitter and healthier so I could have the stem cell transplant.

"They drastically helped me to be ready for the transplant, they were a lifeline."

Granulocytes have a very short lifespan, measured in hours, which is why they need to be used quickly.

If they are not used in time, the risk of side effects starts to outweigh the benefits of the transfusion.

A standard transfusion is two packs, with each pack made from 10 blood donations.

Less than 2,000 packs are sent to hospitals each year whereas hospitals use 1.3 million units of red blood cells.

Granulocytes are made from normal donations which have been fast tracked through testing, and they are only made by special request for a named patient.

Granulocyte packs need to be transfused before midnight on the day they are made from blood donations. They can only be made from blood donated the day before.

NHSBT is highlighting Fahreen's story to urgently appeal for donors this summer.

Blood stocks are still low and England remains in ‘Amber Alert’ for blood. Stocks could fall even further over summer as people go away on holiday.

Gerry Gogarty, Director of Blood Supply, at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: 

"Your blood contains all kinds of components such as red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and white blood cells, which can all be separated out to save or improve several lives.

"So as well helping people with your red cells, the same donation could give someone like Fahreen a potentially lifesaving immune system boost.

"But to keep supplying hospitals this summer we need more donors. We hope Fahreen's story shows the unusual and unexpected ways that blood is so vital to the wider NHS. Our blood stocks are low and we need people to register and book appointments at www.blood.co.uk."

Dr Raj, Fahreen's consultant haematologist at UCLH, said:

"Donating blood regularly can truly save lives. Some of our patients need very rare blood products with a short shelf like Fahreen, and we can only help them with the support of blood donors across the country."

How you can help

Register as a donor and book appointments with the NHS Give Blood app and through the NHSBT website.

Fahreen's story 

Fahreen needed treatment several months after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in February 2024.

She was diagnosed after experiencing tiredness, back ache, and low haemoglobin counts.

Fahreen, who already had a son, was 11 weeks pregnant at the time.

"I was terrified. I had a boy who was going to turn four in two days," she said.

"We had a young family, we had just moved house, and everything came crashing down.

"The pregnancy had to be medically terminated.

"I went into hospital and ended up there for 6 months, except for 4 days over Easter.

"The main reason I had purpose to get through all this was because I knew I had to get better for my son."

Fahreen had chemotherapy to reduce her immune system so that her body would accept a stem cell transplant.

However the chemotherapy also stopped her bone marrow making enough white blood cells, making her vulnerable to the fugal pneumonia.

Fahreen said: “The doctors said that when someone has a stem cell transplant there’s a 10% chance it will result in death but with the fungal pneumonia it was 30%.

"They treated me with antifungals but that didn't fully work, so that's why they started the granulocytes. It would give me a fake immune system."

Fahreen was then well enough to have the stem cell transplant to treat her leukaemia in July 2024 and is now recovering.

"I can walk my son to school every day," she said. "We can go to Hyde Park and hire a bike. A few months ago, I never dreamt I would be able to do that."

She said of her donors: “The donors whose blood was used for the granulocytes are in my prayers every night.

"I am so immensely grateful. I don’t know where I would be without them.

"Before I was in this position, I didn’t even really think about donation but as a result my family donate blood regularly.

"I didn’t realise it but every time you walk into a hospital it’s full of people with some sort of blood cancer and they all need transfusions of blood, platelets and granulocytes.”