Mum leads call for better awareness of Kawasaki disease and plasma donations

A London mother has urged people to donate plasma after her daughter required urgent treatment for a rare disease that first presented as a common childhood illness. Rebecca Nako, 51, said she was shocked to learn that her daughter Winifred, then seven, had been diagnosed with Kawasaki disease in 2023—an illness she had previously only heard of through an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.Kawasaki disease is a rare disease that causes inflammation in blood vessels throughout the body and mainly affects children under the age of five. Although it can be treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and aspirin, the condition can lead to serious heart damage if left untreated.