Mother encourages blood plasma donations as daughter could have died at nine months old without treatment

A mother of two from Northampton wants to encourage others to donate their blood plasma, as her daughter could have died at nine months old without treatment made from donations.

There is currently a shortage of blood plasma donations, with under half of what is needed to treat the condition baby Aurora had, Kawasaki Disease – as well as other serious diseases.

Carrie-Anne Wilson and her family’s “life fell apart two days into a holiday” in June 2021, when she, her partner and two young children travelled to Butlins in Minehead.

Carrie-Anne, 33, knew her daughter Aurora Flaherty, who was just nine months old at the time, was not right from the second day of the trip – as she was lethargic, constantly being sick and had a boiling temperature.

“It was not sitting right with me,” said Carrie-Anne, who phoned 111 that evening and it was thought Aurora may have ingested swimming pool water as it was her first time.

The symptoms continued and the nine-month-old was sleeping constantly, so Carrie-Anne decided to take her to an out of hours doctor who was not happy with Aurora’s state.

They were immediately sent to Taunton General Hospital in an ambulance, which was 25 miles away from where they went on holiday, and did not leave for almost two weeks.

A couple of days into their hospital visit, Aurora and Carrie-Anne were going to be sent home as the medical professionals could not work out what was wrong with the nine-month-old.

However, as they were about to leave, Aurora’s temperature shot up to more than 41 degrees and Carrie-Anne described her state as “a floppy mess”.

She was being fed through a feeding tube and was tested for both sepsis and meningitis, but it turned out to be neither.

On the fourth or fifth day, there was a question over whether Aurora could have Kawasaki Disease and to try and ease her symptoms, she was treated for it straight away.

After three days, Aurora’s condition began to improve and it was clear she had Kawasaki Disease – a rare condition most common in under fives, which requires a treatment made using blood plasma.

The condition causes swelling in the walls of blood vessels that carry blood through the body, which commonly leads to inflammation of the arteries.

Carrie-Anne’s partner and son were unable to visit them in the hospital as they had no form of transport, following their car breaking down on the way to Minehead on the first day of the holiday and it being written off.

They had also exceeded the time booked at their first holiday accommodation while Aurora was in Taunton General Hospital, so Carrie-Anne’s partner and son had to find somewhere else to stay.

Carrie-Anne said: “Even though she was being treated, they were unable to move us to a hospital closer to home as Aurora was too unstable to be moved.

“I questioned if she was going to die and it was the worst time of my life.

“I constantly felt sick and as though I was going to lose her. I couldn’t sleep or take my eyes off her. I was told I had to sleep but I couldn’t.”

Aurora’s condition meant her immune system was eating itself. She was supposed to have 40 of the blood cells that fight infections, but instead she had 400.

“Her body was eating itself from the inside out,” said Carrie-Anne.

After nearly two weeks in hospital, Aurora was discharged and continued her recovery at home in Northampton – where the family resides between Kingsley Park and Boothville.

She has suffered no long term damage as a result of her bout of Kawasaki Disease, but had to have heart scans and see a heart consultant regularly until a year later.

The disease caused her arteries to inflame and although they have not gone back to what they were before, they are a normal size and she was discharged from the heart department.

Aurora’s recovery came down to the treatment containing a donation of blood plasma, which has allowed her to live a normal life – now aged one-and-a-half.

Since blood plasma played such a huge role in the family’s life, they learned there is a shortage of donors to make the treatments for many serious diseases – and there is less than half available of what the National Blood Service requires to treat those in need.

There is currently an ongoing appeal for more people to come forward and donate their plasma.

As soon as Carrie-Anne, her partner and her aunty Rachel Wilson found out they could donate themselves, they signed up to.

Carrie-Anne said: “We wouldn’t have known about this unless it happened to us, but it’s so important.

“Someone saved my daughter’s life with their donation. I want the professionals to take how much they need of my blood plasma as it could save someone else’s.”

Carrie-Anne’s partner and her aunty Rachel have their first appointment to donate blood plasma on Friday (March 3), and they will be recording the process and sharing it on social media to encourage others to do the same.

“As someone donated their plasma and saved our little girl’s life, we’re paying it forward,” said Rachel, great aunty to Aurora.

When asked what she would say to anyone reading who may be considering donating their blood plasma, Carrie-Anne says “if you can, please do and save a life”.