Soldier issues 'give blood' plea

Sgt Paul Farrington, pictured with his family, was given 22 units of blood.

A soldier who served in Afghanistan has urged people to give blood after he suffered a serious road accident.

Staff Sgt Paul Farrington almost died in a motorbike crash near his headquarters in Arbroath last June.

He was unconscious and needed three units of blood at the roadside. In hospital he was given 19 transfusions.

The call comes as the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service urged everyone in Scotland over the age of 17 to give blood at least once in 2009.

New figures show there are 29,000 fewer blood donors north of the border compared to a decade ago.

In 1998 there were 208,000 donors in Scotland, that has now dropped to 179,000.

Following his accident, Sgt Farrington was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where he received 19 blood transfusions.

In total, it took an estimated 46 donors to save his life.

He said: "Without the blood at the roadside and in the operating theatre I could easily have been another fatal statistic.

"I and my family will always be grateful to the donors who saved me."

Jacqueline Millar, local donor services manager, added: "We need everyone in Scotland who is over the age of 17 to make the commitment to come forward and give blood at least once in 2009.

"This will help reverse the donor base decline we are now witnessing. The decline in donor numbers is very worrying.

"We need more donors to come forward to make this commitment to make sure that we can continue to support Scottish healthcare."