Canadian Blood Services calling for donations with donor base lowest in a decade

Canadian Blood Services serves as a lifeline for patients in need, but the non-profit organization now needs saving of its own, currently having the lowest donor base in a decade.

A campaign running throughout the months of May and June is looking to aggressively recruit donors across the country to maintain a stable base of donors.

Andy Jr. Anyaele credits donors for saving his life, saying it’s a gesture that’s “truly priceless.”

When he was just 19 years old, Anyaele, who has sickle cell disease, was hospitalized and in a coma for one week, after a doctor prescribed him an antibiotic he was allergic to.

“That’s when my whole body shut down,” he tells CityNews. “I didn’t know anything, I’m in a coma and I’m being told everything after the fact when I start waking up. My parents let me know that I survived because of blood transfusions and donors.”

Eight years later, the 27-year-old who lives in Markham continues to rely on blood transfusions.

Anyaele has had to make hospital visits every four to six weeks to go through the procedures.

“They start to remove my blood, start a phlebotomy, then after that that’s when they will get me a blood transfusion,” he says. “I honestly need that in order for me to survive, in order for me to live a normal life.”

So do many others, but there’s concern as Canada is seeing a significant drop in donors.

Anyaele calls it alarming, saying, “I know some of my friends receive blood transfusions as well, it affects us as a group.”

Canadian Blood Services is looking to get 100,000 new donors across the country by the end of the year. The charitable organization has seen a drop of 31,000 donors during the pandemic.

“Less than two per cent of the eligible Canadian donor base is actually donating, that’s an extremely small amount of people that are keeping Canada’s lifeline going, which isn’t sustainable for our Canadian patients,” says Rachel Solomon, Community Development Manager with the Canadian Blood Services.

Solomon adds that a number of factors are behind the drop in donors, including the pandemic, as social distancing measures were put in place.

Though donors are needed right across Canada, the need is most significant in urban centers due to population density and donor diversity.

Canadian Blood Services is also building relationships with people of all ethnic and ancestral backgrounds, looking to diversify the blood donor base, in order to meet the needs of patients with rare blood. B negative and O negative blood types are in high demand.

Only seven per cent of the Canadian population has O negative blood, which is the universal blood type and is commonly used in trauma and emergency situations, including times when the patient’s blood type is not known.

“When somebody donates bloods, it’s not just saving lives but it’s making all the difference in someone’s life,” Solomon says. “One in every two Canadians will know somebody or be somebody who needs blood.”

Anyaele is one of those Canadians. He not only is a recipient of blood transfusions, but he’s using his story to help strengthen a lifeline, he and many others, rely on.

“I’m happy to be alive, I woke up today to speak with you so I’m grateful” he says. “Just the awareness alone, should alarm other individuals and try to get them to donate.”

This sentiment also hits home for Solomon, who says, during the pandemic, one of her family members needed blood.

“You never think it was going to be you and I never thought it was going to be me,” Solomon says. “I’m just so thankful for people who have been coming out every single day to donate. You never know when it’s going to be needed, you never know when it’s going to happen.”

Currently Canadian Blood Services isn’t taking walk-ins, but officials say same-day appointments are available in some cases. You can book online, in person, or over the phone.