00:04After a head-on crash with a truck in 2017,
00:07Krishan Lal was facing the loss of his legs, if not his life.
00:12I had to relearn how to walk, I had to connect all of my ligaments,
00:15all of my nervous systems back, my muscles back to my bones,
00:17and basically start from scratch.
00:20It's no easy task, let me tell you that.
00:22If it weren't for a handful of good Samaritans,
00:25he wouldn't be here today.
00:26I was bleeding out on site, I lost a tremendous amount of blood,
00:30and lots of miracles happened on that day,
00:32and one of those ones was because I got into the hospital,
00:34and it was the Red Cross donors that were able to give me a transfusion.
00:39Krishan received a litre and a half of blood that day,
00:42about the equivalent of three donations.
00:45He's living proof of how crucial Lifeblood's work is.
00:49This week, the organisation has been forced to make a distress call of its own.
00:54What we saw was our blood supply has dropped 60%,
00:57which was the lowest levels we've seen in almost a decade.
01:00Lifeblood called for 16,000 donors to come forward
01:04just to meet hospital demand for blood products.
01:08A prolonged cold and flu season has meant 1,200 donor chairs
01:11across the country have been empty each day.
01:15Emergency patients like Krishan will always get the blood that they need,
01:19but in weeks like this, when stocks have been critically low,
01:23it's the less urgent patients who may need to go without,
01:26which for some cancer patients can mean delaying treatment.
01:30I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer five years ago,
01:33and I had to have major surgery,
01:36and during that surgery I had to have a blood transfusion.
01:39And then two years after that, I had to have another blood transfusion
01:44because my bloods weren't at the standard that they have to be
01:48to receive chemotherapy.
01:51Before her diagnosis, Maria was a blood donor herself,
01:55and of all the things cancer has taken from her,
01:58giving back to Lifeblood is something she misses dearly,
02:02especially when it's calling for help.
02:04At the moment we're seeing critically low blood supplies
02:06across all of our blood types,
02:08but if you are an O donor, that's really important
02:10if you can come forward.
02:11We need that the most in an emergency
02:13because O blood types can be given to a lot of people,
02:15so if you don't know your blood type,
02:17the best way to find out is to donate.
02:19I've already donated plasma a little earlier this week,
02:22so I can't get back in the chair myself just yet,
02:25but I want to hear from some of the donors
02:27about why it is that they roll up their sleeves.
02:30It's really easy, it doesn't hurt, it's simple,
02:32you can catch up on your emails while you do it,
02:35it's just, you can do it pretty regularly,
02:37you can fit it around your day, they open early,
02:39they shut late, it's easy.
02:40It's just something I can do because I'm lucky enough
02:43to be healthy and to help out other people.
02:45A chance to give back to the community.
02:49It's a great feeling, it's a little bit of time,
02:53but you know that O negative blood helps newborns,
02:57it helps anyone that needs blood at short notice
03:01because we can donate to everyone.
03:04For some people, a whole blood donation
03:06can take as little as six minutes in the donor chair.
03:09And for those worried about their iron levels,
03:12a plasma donation can take a while longer,
03:15but is liquid gold to Lifeblood.
03:18If you do have the time, the time is now to book a donation
03:21when people really need it most.
03:22Just this week, since Lifeblood called on the community,
03:2785,000 Australians have made an appointment.
03:308,000 of them have never donated before.
03:33Thank you to everybody who has come forward.
03:36You have no idea what difference you make to people like me.
03:40You have no idea what people like me.
03:41That's why you feel like people like me.
03:41Because it's really important.
03:41And of course, it's really important for our lives.
03:41So, you know, it's really important for us.
03:42The idea of this idea for us,
03:42was just an example,
03:43it's a really important thing to think.
