Latest stories

Whether it’s a pulpy page-turner, a fascinating non-fiction book, or an article from The Donor, reading has proven benefits – including for blood, plasma and platelet donors. In the National Year of Reading, find out how reading can help you.

At 17, Rowan Caney was living his dream, playing for Aston Villa’s youth side and dreaming of a professional contract. Then he was diagnosed with severe aplastic anaemia, needing blood and platelet transfusions and a stem cell transplant.

Birthdays are occasions where we often express our gratitude, but Elliot Wills says he only experienced his 14th birthday thanks to blood donors.

In our summer update we look at Metallica’s 2026 tour helping to boost numbers of UK blood donors, how you can keep iron levels up during warmer months, a stem cell transplant in Eastenders, and how you can help the next medical breakthrough.

Tony wasn’t walking far: he was only taking out the bins. Doctors told him he had Guillain-Barre syndrome and would be unlikely to walk again, but thanks to two treatments of “liquid gold” – medicines made from plasma – he walked out of hospital.

Liliana gave blood many times in her native Portugal before moving to the UK provided a nice surprise: she had the rare, lifesaving Ro subtype.

Mina is one of fewer than 10 people in the country with U and N negative blood. She is classed as an 'ultra rare' donor, meaning she is individually contacted when her blood is needed, unlike the other 99.99% of donors.

In our spring 2026 update, we celebrate a year of lives being saved by UK-derived plasma medicines, look into the rules around children attending donation sessions and launch the Bloodlines initiative.

Toni not only works at the Bristol Eye Bank for NHS Blood and Transplant, he has also received three corneal transplants himself.

Over 100 units of donated platelets have made groundbreaking brain tumour surgery possible for a teenager with an extremely rare blood disorder.