When educators at Goodstart Tatton heard about their former student Kobi McDonald's rare autoimmune blood disorder, they made a decision right away.
The five-year-old needs life-saving blood infusions every two weeks to avoid damage to his vital organs including his brain and kidneys, and so the Goodstart team decided to help out by donating blood.
Kobi’s mother, Rebecca McDonald said the five-year-old's prognosis was unknown.
“His blood is missing a protein and due to this it clots with every pass through his heart. A blood transfusion helps but the damage to his major organs is the real problem. When he relapses, it's a case of wait, watch and see what damage has been done and if it's possible to heal him,” Mrs McDonald said.
“So far he has gone into renal failure twice. A simple cold can mean a flight to Sydney RCH and a month or more stay depending on how much damage has been done,” she said.
Centre director Melanie Swan said the team decided to donate blood after Kobi had to suddenly go to Sydney for treatment earlier this year.
“We saw that Kobi’s health problems were having an effect on the whole family, and we wanted to do something to help, Ms Swan said.
“One of our educators who regularly donates blood suggested this was something we could do to show our support, so I spoke to Kobi’s dad Nigel and he told me about the Red Cross Red 25 group, ‘Kobi’s Klub’, which is a group people can donate to in Kobi’s name,” she said.
The six educators arranged a day to donate and took Kobi, his dad and brother Ky along with them.
“Kobi loves that his teachers have donated their blood! He knows that he might receive their blood during one of his fortnightly transfusions, and he is incredibly appreciative that they are helping him to live as normal a life as possible,” Mrs McDonald said.
If you would like to donate blood to help Kobi and other children like him, visit the Red 25 website and select ‘Kobi’s Klub’ as the group you would like your donation to go towards.
The five-year-old needs life-saving blood infusions every two weeks to avoid damage to his vital organs including his brain and kidneys, and so the Goodstart team decided to help out by donating blood.
Kobi’s mother, Rebecca McDonald said the five-year-old's prognosis was unknown.
“His blood is missing a protein and due to this it clots with every pass through his heart. A blood transfusion helps but the damage to his major organs is the real problem. When he relapses, it's a case of wait, watch and see what damage has been done and if it's possible to heal him,” Mrs McDonald said.
“So far he has gone into renal failure twice. A simple cold can mean a flight to Sydney RCH and a month or more stay depending on how much damage has been done,” she said.
Centre director Melanie Swan said the team decided to donate blood after Kobi had to suddenly go to Sydney for treatment earlier this year.
“We saw that Kobi’s health problems were having an effect on the whole family, and we wanted to do something to help, Ms Swan said.
“One of our educators who regularly donates blood suggested this was something we could do to show our support, so I spoke to Kobi’s dad Nigel and he told me about the Red Cross Red 25 group, ‘Kobi’s Klub’, which is a group people can donate to in Kobi’s name,” she said.
The six educators arranged a day to donate and took Kobi, his dad and brother Ky along with them.
“Kobi loves that his teachers have donated their blood! He knows that he might receive their blood during one of his fortnightly transfusions, and he is incredibly appreciative that they are helping him to live as normal a life as possible,” Mrs McDonald said.
If you would like to donate blood to help Kobi and other children like him, visit the Red 25 website and select ‘Kobi’s Klub’ as the group you would like your donation to go towards.