A 10-year-old girl from Australia, who depends on blood donations to manage a potentially life-threatening condition, has expressed hope that new rules allowing gay and bisexual men and transgender women to donate plasma will improve her chances of survival.
Her mother, Kate, shared with A Current Affair that her daughter Marleigh suffers from an incurable illness that causes severe seizures, sometimes lasting nearly 40 hours. Because of her condition, Marleigh requires regular plasma transfusions.
Kate explained that for years, she fought to change Australia’s blood donation policies, which previously excluded certain groups based on sexual activity. She said many of their gay male friends were heartbroken they couldn’t donate blood when Marleigh was at her sickest. “All they wanted to do was go and jump in a seat at Lifeblood and donate the blood,” she said.
According to Lifeblood, the national blood service, the previous rules barred gay and bisexual men and transgender women from donating blood or plasma if they had sex with men in the past three months. However, from July 14, Lifeblood will remove most of these waiting periods for plasma donors, including those on pre-exposure prophylaxis who meet other eligibility criteria.
The organization estimates that these changes will enable an additional 24,000 Australians to donate plasma, resulting in about 95,000 extra donations annually. This move aims to help save more lives by expanding the pool of eligible donors and ensuring a more resilient blood supply for patients like Marleigh.
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