Saved by strangers, Maddie is happy and healthy today. Maddie pictured with her parents Simon and Monique, and big brother Levi.
Maddie is your average 10 year old. She’s happy, bright, loves drawing and music, and giving her dog, Blu, big cuddles.
She recently auditioned for the school music, The Sound of Music, and has been working hard on her yodelling technique. But when Maddie was just two, she was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma – a rare childhood cancer that usually affects children under five. The diagnosis changed the course of Maddie and her family’s lives.
She had countless hospital visits, lengthy hospital stays, surgeries and treatments, including receiving many litres of blood and blood products. To put it in perspective, Maddie received blood products from more than 60 generous donors during one six-month treatment stint.
Complete strangers took an hour out of their day, and gave her life in return.
Maddie’s Dad Simon explains that cancer treatment is more than just chemotherapy.
“You can’t rescue the patient without blood,” he explains.
Maddie’s mum Monique agrees. “We’ve seen the side effects of when Maddie’s blood levels were low,” she says. “She was laying in my arms lifeless without the donations.”
Over the course of Maddie’s treatments, she received more blood than was in her little body several times.
Simon says it was hard to predict how much blood Maddie received during her treatment.
“There were times when Maddie was in intensive care and it was just bag after bag after bag… after bag.”
Feeling helpless, friends and family would ask the family what they could to do help. Donate blood was Monique’s simple answer.
“That’s something you can do that would really benefit everybody,” she says. “We learned how valuable that was,” she says. “It’s something money can’t buy.”
Today, as Maddie sits happily in her school uniform giving Blu a hug, she’s very thankful to her many donors and offers a karmic view of giving blood.
“I hope they’re living a good life because they donated and that’s helping someone else to live,” she says. “They should be able to feel good and have a good life as well.”
Statistically, one in three Australians will need blood, plasma or platelets during their lifetime – but as little as one in 30 donate.
Recent changes to eligibility criteria means more people can donate now than ever before. These changes include the broadening of inclusivity and lifting restrictions for people who lived in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s.
During winter blood stocks plummet to dangerously low levels, with regular donors needing to cancel appointments when they catch colds and flus.
Last August, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood reported the percentage of people cancelling was the highest it had been in five years, since before COVID-19.
A person involved in a serious road crash can need as many as 100 bags of blood, depending on their injuries.
At least 100 donors need to have already rolled up their sleeves to supply this amount.
Maddie’s advice to those who may be worried or scared about donating blood is to try to think of the bigger picture.
“You think it’s going to be this big thing, but it’s not as big a deal compared to the people who have these big needles or have to have needles every day,” she says.
“Imagine, you only have to do it, not even once a month, but you could do it once a year.
“It’s ok to be scared, but remember you’re saving someone’s life and doing something good for another person.”
Simon admits he’s not a big fan of needles, but looking at Maddie is reason enough to put his own fears aside and roll up his sleeves.
“They are super professional, so it’s probably the best needle you could possibly get,” he laughs.
“I don’t think there’s anything that you could possibly do in your life that’s as easy as this that has such a big outcome.
“It’s almost like, ‘Pick up the groceries, save a life, cook dinner’ – it’s good for your soul.”
It’s time to add ‘donate blood’ to your winter to-do list. What goes around, comes around, as Maddie suggests – a bit like the liquid red gold flowing through our bodies.
Ready to start your donation journey?
Take Lifeblood’s eligibility quiz and find your nearest donor centre.
