Dear Friend,

On World Blood Donor Day (June 14) I am happy to share an inspiring story from our doctors.

“We received an urgent request for blood from our Emergency Department. The patient was a 64-year-old man injured in a two-wheeler accident. Our worst fear was realised – he had the extremely rare Bombay blood group. And we had none in our stock. The patient had multiple fractures, head injury, abdominal injury – he would need a minimum of 3-4 units of blood. The Bombay blood group is seen in 1 in 10,000 Indians. It is incompatible with any other blood group including O. Only red cells from another Bombay group individual can be used. 

Our search for Bombay donors began. From our database we found six voluntary Bombay group donors. An organisation in Chennai that networks across hospitals for rare blood groups also lent a hand. Within two hours, the first donor arrived from Chittoor. By late evening, three more people had donated blood, one travelling 150 km to reach Vellore. Over the next few days, two more volunteers donated. 

The patient survived thanks to multiple surgeries and care by our different teams (trauma surgery, trauma orthopaedics, neurosurgery, ICU team etc). After two weeks, he was discharged – well and stable. It was a day of thankfulness and celebration. We are truly humbled by the generous, unconditional support of our donors – they saved his life.”

Safe blood saves lives – and so do people who give! I too thank our generous friends for their tremendous efforts and urge you to donate blood. You can be a hero and save lives! 

Warm regards,

Dr. Vinoi George David

Deputy Director – Gifts and Grants

CMC Vellore

Story acknowledgement: Department of Transfusion Medicine and Immunohaematology