One in three Australians will need a blood donation in their lifetime and yet only one in 30 Australians actually donate blood.
Giving Life, a gripping new fly-on-the-wall television series for Channel 9 will take viewers on a heart-warming, heart-stopping and sometimes heart-breaking journey across eight episodes to explore the real-life stories behind the generous people who donate blood and the vulnerable strangers who gratefully receive their life-saving gifts.
Australia has one of the world’s safest and most secure blood supplies with 1.5 million donations given each year but it’s not only blood that is donated through the Blood Service. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service runs a breastmilk bank where almost 3,000 litres of breastmilk are collected and its’ organ donation service which carries out tissue typing on around 500 donors each year to find a match. The Blood Service are also embarking on a pilot to provide a reliable supply of donated stool for faecal microbiota transplants to treat patients with life-threatening digestive system infections.
The stories on Giving Life are real and nothing short of incredible and clearly show the impact of blood donations for people on all walks of life. The surfer who narrowly escaped death after a brutal encounter with a tiger shark, the mum and her newborn daughter who required over fourteen units of blood to save their lives during delivery, to the two kids suffering from thalassemia who need blood donations for the rest of their lives. Giving Life celebrates those life givers – the donors. The people who resolutely and selflessly give of their blood, breastmilk and organs to help others in dire need.
The messages behind Giving Life are compelling. The fact is one donation can save three people’s lives and if you donate once every 12 weeks (three months) you will be saving as many as 12 lives each year. A plasma donation unlocks 18 life-saving products which treat serious burns and cancer, to protecting people with brain or blood disorders.
Giving Life is an eight-part series and launches on Channel 9 Saturday 16th November, 1pm nationally (expect Brisbane which airs at 2.30pm).
The Carousel would like to thank Thalia Mills for her article.
