maisy’s Story
“Blood donors saved my baby’s life”
Little Maisy Vignes from Ireland is only alive today thanks to the generosity of anonymous blood donors. Maisy was rushed to intensive case straight after birth where she became the first baby in medical history to survive being born with a zero blood count.
Watching Maisy laughing and giggling as she rides her scooter to the beach, it’s hard to believe that she came within minutes of dying on the night she was born four years ago.
“She wasn’t crying or moving and they thought they had already lost her” recalls her Mum, Emma.
“Then they realised she was still breathing and rushed her to intensive care, where they discovered she had no blood in her body”.
Maisy at 6 hours old
Maisy immediately started receiving donor blood and underwent three blood transfusions and a platelet transfusion that night, without which she would have had no hope. After 17 days in hospital, Maisy was finally able to go home and has led a normal, healthy life ever since.
“What blood donors do is amazing” explains Emma. “Maisy is our world and we will be forever grateful to the people who donated their blood so that she could live”.