00:00Hayley Butler knows how important blood donations can be.
00:07Well for me it saved my life.
00:09She was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer in 2020,
00:13underwent 25 rounds of radiation and then had to have major surgery.
00:18I now live with a permanent stoma and during that surgery,
00:21obviously 11 and a half hours, I relied on blood and plasma and platelets.
00:27Across her family blood donations have been integral.
00:31Hayley lost her mum, sister-in-law and father-in-law to cancers
00:35and recently her dad died from leukaemia.
00:38Particularly with my dad gave us more time to have some conversations,
00:42a bit of time to heal before we knew the inevitable unfortunately.
00:47Now people who've recovered from many cancers can donate 12 months
00:51after finishing treatment provided they have their doctor's approval.
00:55The community is really receiving this well
00:58and looking forward to the opportunity to be able to give back
01:00and help make a difference for something that they've gone through themselves.
01:04Cancer patients are Australia's largest recipients of blood products
01:08with a third of all donations used to treat cancers and blood diseases.
01:13Lifeblood says that's about 11,000 donations every week,
01:17with demand continuing to climb.
01:20It says international research has backed the move.
01:24Cancer is not transmissible through blood transfusion
01:27so we're safely able to reduce that wait time from 5 years down to 12 months.
01:32Hayley hopes she can help someone on their own cancer journey.
01:36It's a huge milestone.
01:38Giving back through healing.
01:39Giving back through healing.
01:43To be continued...
01:44...
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