Image: David Lange Backs World Blood Donor Day

The Rt Hon David Lange CH ONZ is urging New Zealanders to become blood donors.

Mr Lange made his impassioned plea on World Blood Donor Day, a new global celebration designed to create wider awareness of the importance of blood donation and encourage more people to become regular donors

The theme for the day in New Zealand was "unsung heroes" and donors were thanked in person at New Zealand Blood Service sites by Kiwi heroes including squash legend Dame Susan Devoy, former All Blacks Danny Lee and Sam Harding, Lord of the Rings hero Bruce Hopkins, TV3 personalities Carolyn Robinson and Sarah Bradley and Silver Ferns Anna Rowberry, Sheryl Scanlan, Belinda Colling, Vilimaina Davu and Jodi Te Huna.

Mr Lange has every reason to be thankful to blood donors. Two years ago the former Prime Minister (from 1984 to 1989) was diagnosed with Amyloidosis, an incurable blood disease, which required chemotherapy to suppress it.

After five rounds of chemotherapy over seven months Mr Lange's bone marrow went on "a work to rule" and his haemoglobin level dropped alarmingly.

A healthy person's platelet levels - platelets are tiny cells that initiate the formation of blood clots and reduce blood loss from wounds - are around the 250 mark. Mr Lange's were 14.

"My platelets were on first name terms," Mr Lange said. "The result was that I needed many transfusions. I had around forty in total, some as close as ten days apart.

"After that many transfusions I assume I'm now in a position to say I'm proud to have some Maori blood in me."

Mr Lange has gone eight weeks without a transfusion due to a new type of therapy for boosting his bone marrow. But even this great orator struggles to find the words to describe how grateful he is to people he will never meet - his blood donors.

"It's hard to describe how grateful you are for blood transfusions," Mr Lange said. "After a transfusion it's like you're running on 96 Octane petrol instead of your usual 45 Octane.

"I hope New Zealanders appreciate that just one donation can save several lives. It's amazing how far blood goes...you're not left an empty husk after donating. Just one unit, about a can and a half of soft drink, is all it takes to assist two or three grateful recipients."

Mr Lange says blood donation is not just a life-saving issue either.

"There's two reasons to give blood - one, to save lives and, two, to enhance the quality of someone's life. The latter is a very valid reason and I'm living proof of that."

Mr Lange is confident he's over the worst of his ill health and is pleased that World Blood Donor Day is celebrating the unsung heroes who have helped him get better.

And he won't be forgetting the June 14 date for World Blood Donor Day in a hurry.

"It's also the day that Rob Muldoon called the snap election that led to the demise of his government the following month."

That was 20 years ago...and Mr Lange is thankful to be here to celebrate the significant anniversary.

In other activity surrounding World Blood Donor Day today:

· 57-year-old Aucklander Ian Gardiner made his 300th donation at the New Zealand Blood Service site in Epsom. Mr Gardiner, who received a letter from the Governor-General - Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE - and a commemorative plaque from NZBS Chief Executive Dr Graeme Benny, said: "I always said I'd stop when I made my 100th donation. The 300th donation will come and go as well, but I'll still be coming until I simply can't do it...or they don't need me anymore."

· The NZBS unveilled a red armband to use as an icon of blood donation...in the same vein as pink and yellow ribbons, the red armband was developed because the colour signifies life-giving blood and is worn on the arm where donor blood comes from.

ENDS

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