Parents make blood platelets plea

The twins are now in good health thanks to platelet donations

The parents of premature twins who were given life-saving transfusions are calling for more people to donate platelets over the festive season.

Harry and Scarlett Flack, from Oxfordshire, were born on Boxing Day last year - 15 weeks early. Both needed platelet transfusions to survive.

These circulate in the system and help the clotting and healing process.

Donations only have a five-day shelf life and supplies run extremely low over Christmas and New Year.

Cancer patients and premature babies are those most in need of platelets.

The twins' father Jim Flack said: "We were reliant on these to keep them going and you don't know about supplies until you are in that situation."

If the blood had not been available we would not be sitting here as happy as we are now Mandy Flack, twins' mother

Dr Sheila MacLennan, Clinical Director, NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "It does take a little bit longer than blood donation.

"It would take probably take an hour and a quarter, but out of that donation we can get two or three doses for an adult and that equates to about 8 to 12 for a baby."

But mother Mandy Flack said it was a small price to pay to make a big difference.

"Without somebody donating the blood and platelets the twins may not be with us today.

"They were only given a 50-50 chance of survival anyway - so if the blood had not been available we would not be sitting here as happy as we are now."