This issue of the Cutting (& Stitching) Edge is devoted to the Blood Bag Project. I hope you feel able to participate in this excellent fundraising idea.
“My name is Leigh Bowser (aka Leighlalovesyou) and I am a final year Textile Craft student at the university of Huddersfield (UK). I am basing my final year project on my 21 month old niece, Chloe, who suffers from a rare blood disorder called Diamond Blackfan Anaemia.
“This disorder means that her bone marrow does not create new red blood cells, causing her to become severly anaemic. As a result, she requires a blood transfusion every 4-5 weeks. Chloe recieved 2 transfusions before birth, and will require more than 120 transfusions before she is ten years old when she will be old enough to undergo chemotherapy and recieve a bone marrow transplant. Until then, Chloe needs the help of blood donors of her rare blood type Rhesus O- to donate 35 pints of blood needed to keep her alive.
As a response to the fact that I can not donate blood due to a health condition, I have set up ‘The Blood Bag Project‘, a craft campaign that aims to raise awareness of Chloe’s rare condition that only around 700 people worldwide suffer from. By creating textile ‘blood bags’, those like me who are unable to donate blood can help in another way. Those who want to get involved can go to the projects website and download the free PDF template of a blood bag and get creative – they are encouraged to use any textile materials you wish to make and fill the bags.
I then hope to exhibit the donated ‘blood bags’ and auction them to raise money for blood disease charities.
