BEH patient who gets eye drops made from blood meets donors

Carolyn, Martin and Martin at Bristol Blood Donation Centre

Carolyn Frost, a patient at Bristol Eye Hospital, part of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW), has met and thanked two men whose donations were used for her treatment.

Carolyn, 75, from near Thornbury in Gloucestershire, receives eye drops made from the plasma in human blood because she can’t produce her own tears due to severe dry eye.

She met donor Martin Wilson, aged 64, of Westbury-On-Trym in Bristol, and Martin Darwin, from Newton-le-Willows near Warrington, at the Bristol Blood Donor Centre.

Carolyn, a married mother of three with seven grandchildren, told the two men: “I am so grateful to you both. It’s been amazing, and fascinating to learn about the whole process.  I would just urge people to give blood.”

Carolyn has had other treatments including steroids since childhood. She started on the NHSBT eye drops around year ago.

Carolyn said: “Severe dry eye is a horrible thing to have. I can feel it burning hot sometimes. My eyes get hot, red and uncomfortable. There’s a scratchy feeling and my vision is quite blurred. It becomes painful to use your eyes. It’s quite disabling. I really struggle to see.

“It’s amazing they can use blood to make eye drops.”

Martin Wilson is a retired Rolls Royce engineer who has donated blood about 80 times,

He said: “It was an absolute pleasure to meet Carolyn. It’s good to give blood but it’s so nice to meet someone who has received your blood directly.”

Martin Darwin, renewable energy consultant, has donated nearly 60 times.

The married dad of two said: “It’s been an amazing experience to meet Carolyn.

“It’s great to donate but to actually meet a recipient of your own blood and understand how much difference they think it has made to their life is incredible.”

Carolyn meeting with her donors and the NHS Blood & Transplant team at Bristol Blood Donation Centre

The eye drops are provided by NHS Blood and Transplant, but her consultant, Dr Omar Elhaddad is an Ophthalmologist at the Bristol Eye Hospital. He said: “Carolyn's powerful experience shows how much dry eye can really affect people's quality of life.

“Serum drops greatly improve life quality for most patients, like Carolyn and can even be sight saving.

“I am very grateful for blood donors. Their generous and valuable donations really can change people's lives.”

Dr Akila Chandrasekar, Consultant in Transfusion Medicine at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “Some patients, for a variety of reasons, suffer from a severe dryness of the eye, which can be a very painful and disabling condition.

“Serum eye drops can be made from the patient’s own blood, however around 80% of the patients who need this treatment rely on blood from volunteer donations.

“Each donation normally provides enough serum eye drops to last up to three to four months.

“Blood is complex can be used in many ways. We always need new donors.”