{"id":166765,"date":"2025-06-08T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166765\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T05:00:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T05:00:12","slug":"birmingham-grandads-heartbreaking-reason-for-donating-plasma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166765\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham grandad’s ‘heartbreaking’ reason for donating plasma"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Birmingham grandad who regularly donates plasma has encouraged others to do the same after family ‘heartbreak’.<\/p>\n

Inspirational Paul Barnett, 47, donates “in honour” of his three-year-old granddaughter Suraiya who was born premature with Kawasaki disease.<\/p>\n

She was in and out of hospital for the first year of her life and she suffered severe symptoms including rashes, red eyes, nosebleeds and swollen hands.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/b>West Midlands bus fare increase slammed as traveller explains why it ‘makes no sense’<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

But thanks to the plasma-derived intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment, Suraiya was able to make a full recovery.<\/p>\n

She no longer requires infusions after receiving the all-clear in February.<\/p>\n

Paul, who used to give blood before switching solely to plasma donations, said: “It was heartbreaking to see Suraiya so poorly as a little baby.<\/p>\n

“Now she is a strong, chatty and kind girl who loves playing doctors.<\/p>\n

“I donate in honour of her…to help other children suffering from Kawasaki disease.”<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Barnett, 47, with his three-year-old granddaughter Suraiya -Credit:NHS<\/p>\n

The Business Improvement District (BID) warden, who donates at Birmingham Plasma Donor Centre<\/a>, said: “I am so grateful to everyone who also donates.<\/p>\n

“A huge thank you, not only to the other plasma donors, but also to the donor centre staff for their dedication.<\/p>\n

“Working with plasma is a 24\/7 operation and I deeply appreciate the hard work that goes into it.”<\/p>\n

\"Grandad-of-three<\/p>\n

Grandad-of-three Paul Barnett at Birmingham Plasma Donor Centre -Credit:NHS<\/p>\n

It was only after Suraiya\u2019s diagnosis that Paul became aware of how plasma was being used to manufacture life-saving drugs to treat different diseases – including Kawasaki.<\/p>\n

Paul walks past the donor centre, one of only three dedicated plasma donor centres in England, multiple times a day while on patrol. He said he was “lucky” he was able to pop in with ease after work.<\/p>\n

Mark Bailey, manager at Birmingham Plasma Donor Centre<\/a>, said: \u201cPaul\u2019s determination to donate plasma is truly inspiring.<\/p>\n

“I thank him, and all our plasma and blood donors in the Birmingham<\/a> area, for coming forward and doing their part to improve and save the lives of others.<\/p>\n

“Paul\u2019s personal experience \u2013 through Suraiya \u2013 highlights the vital role of plasma in life-saving treatments and the essential impact donors can have on patients of all ages and their families.<\/p>\n

“The need for blood and plasma never stops, and currently we have a lot of appointments still available to fill \u2013 both here in Birmingham and across the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

“We strongly urge all potential donors to book their next appointment today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interested in donating? Either visit www.blood.co.uk<\/a>, download the GiveBlood app, or call 0300 123 23 23.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Birmingham grandad who regularly donates plasma has encouraged others to do the same after family ‘heartbreak’. Inspirational…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,45955,748,393,4884,69775,69774,69778,69776,69779,69777,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-166765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-blood-donors","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-kawasaki-disease","14":"tag-paul-barnett","15":"tag-plasma-donations","16":"tag-plasma-donor","17":"tag-plasma-donors","18":"tag-suraiya","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114645986839889907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}