NHS missing out on plasma donations because people don’t know they can donate

Emma Armstrong, 34, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, needed plasma medicine after being paralysed by the sudden onset of an autoimmune disease.

Over four days, she went from healthy to being put in an induced coma to help keep her alive. She spent five months in hospital.

After waking up paralysed, Emma received immunoglobulin and plasma exchanges, which helped her body stop attacking itself and she has made an almost complete recovery.

Emma, the managing director of a business consultancy, was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome in August 2022, only a month after coming back from her honeymoon in Aruba.

Emma said: "I started getting pins and needles in my hands.

"It started getting worse and spreading around my body to the point where it became very difficult to do anything."

Emma became unable to move properly – if she stood up, she would fall over – and days later was rushed into hospital.

"I was exhausted, I couldn’t breathe, everything was shutting down. I was scary. I knew something had to give."

She was put into an induced coma, on ventilation via a tracheostomy, fed through a tube and supported with various drugs.

Guillain Barre is caused when your immune system mistakenly attackers your nervous system, stopping muscles working properly – it becomes especially lifethreatening when, as in Emma’s case, it affects the lung muscles.

Emma spent three weeks in the coma and woke up paralysed.

"The doctors explained they had thought I wasn’t going to make it because of what my body had been through. By the time I came around, everyone was so relieved."

She could only communicate by blinking.

"I was completely paralysed, head to toe. I couldn’t even close my jaw.

"I was in a little bit of disbelief about what was happening because the thought of spending my life like that was horrendous.

"But there was nothing I could do express myself so it was quite scary really."

Emma began treatment with immunoglobulin, a medicine made from antibodies found in donor plasma. These healthy antibodies, part of the body’s natural immune system, can help calm down the patient’s own antibodies, so they stopped mistakenly attacking her nervous system.

She also had plasma exchanges, where her own plasma and antibodies were replaced with albumin solution, which is also made from healthy donor plasma.

"I know the immunoglobulin was very expensive and they gave me as much of that as they could.

"My body started to work again – at first I was able to move a finger. I started to get sensitivity back. After 11 weeks in a hospital bed, I had no strength, and I had to do a lot of physio."

She was discharged on December 19, in time for Christmas, still only able to walk with a zimmer frame until late January, and continued months of gruelling exercise and physio, but has now returned to work.

She said of plasma donors: "Without donors, people like me wouldn’t get the treatment they need, it just makes such a difference. Without it, I would be just a shell. Thank you to everyone who donates plasma."

Mark Hobbs is another person who's said immunoglobulin saved his life after he spent more than 300 days in hospital – including seven months in ICU – with a very rare and serious autoimmune disorder.

Mark, 58, a construction site manager from Cowplain near Waterlooville in Hampshire, was diagnosed with Guillain Barre syndrome in February 2022 – his immune system was attacking his own nervous system, causing paralysis and lung failure.

He went from feeling tingling in his hand when arriving at work in the morning, to losing his sense of balance, and by 8pm that night he was in Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth in a coma, paralysed from the nose down, with a ventilator to keep him breathing.

Mark said: "I was driving to work and I was feeling a bit rough. I had some tingling in my hands and my legs started to feel weak at the knees. I just said 'something is not right' and I got somebody to drive me home and my wife took me to the hospital. By the time we got there, which is only 15 minutes away, I was only just about able to walk and I went downhill over the day."

Starting that night, he received five days of intravenous immunoglobulin treatment. The immunoglobulin contained healthy donor antibodies, which helped his immune system to calm down and stop attacking his nervous system.

Mark said: "The immunoglobulin was absolutely lifesaving. Without it, I would have got progressively worse and probably wouldn’t have made it."

Today, Mark can breathe on his own, and is trying to build his muscles back with exercise and physical therapy. He still has weak ankles and balance problems and his hands and feet are still not back to normal.

His wife Suzi, 54, who is a blood donor, said: "I think plasma donors are heroes. They are going to save a lot of people’s lives. Without plasma donors, Mark wouldn’t be here today."

Elsa Gavriil, 42, an executive assistant from Hackney, also receives immunoglobulin for a rare autoimmune disorder, myasthenia gravis.

Her own immune system is damaging the communication between her nerves and muscles.

Elsa said: "In January 2022, I started having some problems with putting my contact lenses on my right eye, and I thought I had an eye problem.

"By March, when visiting family, I was not seeing well and I had to keep lifting and readjusting my eyelid.

"By December 2022, my myasthenia was out of control. I’d developed severe double vision. I was struggling at work and I had to wear an eye patch. I was reluctant to leave the house because everything was blurry. I had headaches and dizziness.

"I was treated with immunoglobulin in December 2022 and March 2023 and it made a huge difference!

"I can now live a normal life, do the things I enjoy, work and move around with confidence.

"Without immunoglobulin, I could have had a myasthenic crisis which is what happens when the lung muscles become very weak, and the patient cannot breathe. It can be fatal.

"I'm trying to have a child and immunoglobulin is the only safe treatment. Without it, I would either be very poorly or wouldn't be able to go ahead with my fertility treatments."

She added: "I am very grateful to the people who donate. It changes people’s lives for the better – a heartfelt thank you to everyone who donates."