A mum from Birmingham who suffers from a life-threatening disease has made a heartfelt for more blood donors from the Afro-Caribbean community as the city faces a huge shortfall.
Shelley Falconer, 34, from Erdington, was diagnosed with sickle cell as a baby and receives six units of blood every four weeks in a red cell exchange.
Aged just eight Shelley suffered a stroke, often a complication of sickle cell, which affected mobility in her hand. And in October 2019 she had a baby boy called Caiden who she feared may have her inherited condition, but thankfully has not. But he does carry the sickle cell trait.
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Shelley said: “I was just so relieved that he doesn’t have to go through what I go through. I was always frightened to know if my partner carried the trait and what the chances were that my child would be sickle cell.
“I was scared during pregnancy worrying about whether I would have a crisis or go into crisis during labour. Thankfully I didn’t have any crises as it was all managed so well.”
Now Shelley is urging people from the black African, black Caribbean and of black mixed ethnicity to come forward and donate blood, as they are more likely to have the rare blood sub-group Ro that many black sickle cell patients need.
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