15-year-old Olli Spiller from Billingham has challenged himself to cycle 30km on his exercise bike from his hospital room to raise awareness of the urgent need for blood donors.
Olli, who earlier this year was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, is currently receiving treatment on Newcastle’s Teenage Cancer Unit at The Great North Children’s Hospital.
As part of his treatment, Olli receives vital blood transfusions and has received over 6 so far. Although blood transfusions are not treatment for leukaemia, they can replace red cells, platelets and other blood components.
Olli has the blood type O negative, known as the ‘universal blood type’ as it can be safely given to anyone. It is usually used in emergencies when the blood type is unknown, which can cause shortages in supplies.
However, the teenager can only receive blood from O negative donors. Only 8% of the population have O negative blood, and yet donors with this blood type are responsible for supplying up to 16% of all blood supplied to hospitals.
Olli’s dad, Mark Spiller, shared Olli’s story and his challenge on Facebook and has been overwhelmed with the response.
He said: “It has taken us a few weeks to get our heads round it all, but we wanted to share Olli’s story to help raise awareness of the urgent need for blood donors and how vital transfusions have been to his care.
“I have cycled the coast to coast myself for charity, I never thought we’d be here ourselves. Olli has set himself a huge task for a poorly teenager. Despite everything, he has remained incredibly positive and determined to give back.”
Olli has spent the last 5 weeks in hospital receiving treatment and has set himself the goal of being the fittest on the ward on discharge.
He said: “I wanted to get back to doing normal activities and get my fitness levels and mobility back. I was a keen cyclist before and would just get on my bike and go for a cycle.
“I set myself this challenge as wanted to raise awareness that such an essential but simple thing as donating your blood can help someone like me in my recovery. We didn’t realise there was a shortage of blood donors until we were here.
“I have a close group of friends at school who have all reached out to support me and visited the ward to lift my spirits.”
Olli is cycling 5km day on his exercise bike and is seeing regular improvements in his times. He hopes to finish his challenge in the coming weeks and see more people register to donate.
Over the summer, the NHS is urging people to keep filling blood donation appointments, especially in town and city donor centres, like the one in Newcastle. There is also a particular need right now for more blood donors with the O negative and B negative blood types.
Daniel Cooper, Assistant Director for Blood Operations, NHS Blood and Transplant, says:
“We are so grateful to Olli for taking on this impressive challenge to raise awareness of the importance of blood donation. Around two thirds of all blood collected and issued to hospitals is used for the treatment of ongoing medical conditions, like cancer.
“Many people with cancer rely on blood transfusions to keep them well and strong enough to undergo treatment, so blood donors play a vital life-saving role and it is crucial that blood is available whenever it is needed.
“We wish Olli all the best both for this challenge and his ongoing treatment and we look forward to seeing many more donors, inspired by Olli’s efforts, give blood and start saving lives!”
You can show Olli support by registering and booking an appointment to give blood by visiting www.blood.co.uk, downloading the NHS Give Blood app or calling 0300 123 23 23.
You can also follow his journey on his Just Giving page, where the family are raising funds for additional therapies to help in his physical recovery.
