Mother given 'lifeline' after made-to-order blood transfusion

A woman whose world came "crashing down" after she was diagnosed with leukaemia says she was given a lifeline when she received a blood donation that acted like a "fake immune system".

Fahreen Virani, 42, from north-east London, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in February 2024 after noticing symptoms of tiredness, backache and low haemoglobin counts.

After chemotherapy, the dentist from Waltham Forest needed a stem cell transplant, but contracted pneumonia which was not responding to usual treatments.

As a result, Mrs Virani was told she needed a special "before midnight" transplant of components taken from blood.

"I was terrified. I had a boy who was going to turn four two days later," she said.

"We had a young family, we had just moved house, and everything came crashing down."

Ms Virani had chemotherapy so her body would accept a stem cell transplant, however, the chemotherapy also prevented her bone marrow from making enough white blood cells, making her vulnerable to the fungal pneumonia.

"The doctors said that when someone has a stem cell transplant there's a 10% chance it will result in death but with the fungal pneumonia it was 30%," Ms Virani said.

"They treated me with antifungals but that didn't fully work, so that's why they started the granulocytes – it would give me a fake immune system."

Granulocytes are white blood cells which attack and break down bacteria, fungi and viruses but they have a short shelf life and have to be given to a recipient before midnight on the day after donation.

Each granulocytes transfusion is made for a single patient and a standard transfusion consists of two packs, with each one made from 10 blood donations. They have to be quickly tested and processed before being rushed to hospital.

Ms Virani said: "I waking up early every day thinking, 'Are they here? Are they here":[]}