I was you. I was a deputy headteacher of a secondary school. Life was incredibly busy; life was great, until one day everything changed.
My amazing husband, Mike, was 44 and fit and healthy. He was a former riot squad policeman who served in the police for 18 years. He exercised, and we had such a happy home life with our two little boys, who, at the time, were aged 3 and 5.
In April 2023, Mike was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, a form of blood cancer. Life was turned upside down and would sadly never be the same.
In July 2024, 16 months after diagnosis and having fought off the leukaemia twice, my incredibly brave husband died. We were gifted those 16 extra months as a family because of the kindness of strangers who had donated blood.
Mike needed over 100 pints of blood products during his illness, without which he would have died in the first few days following diagnosis. Those extra 16 months meant we had another Christmas together. They meant that Mike had time to write beautiful letters to our little boys that they treasure.
I will forever be grateful to those strangers.
Turning pain into purpose
Losing Mike has been the hardest thing I have ever gone through, but I am determined to turn the pain into purpose to save lives in Mike’s name. That’s why I created the “Pint for Mike” campaign on , to encourage people to donate blood in his honour.
Please follow us if you can. We currently have 475 pints donated.
Most people are shocked to find out that each pint donated saves up to three adult lives or six infants’ lives. It takes less than an hour to donate blood - less than an hour to save lives.
People are also not aware that you are eligible to donate blood from the age of 17 and that only 2 per cent of those eligible to donate blood actually do. I have always been a blood donor, and I had no idea how few people donate.
As a former deputy headteacher, I know the value of careful messaging to our young people and started a national campaign to get all schools to deliver the important message about blood donation to their Year 13 students.
I created a free assembly package for schools that includes a letter to send home to parents, a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with the of my story that I created embedded and a handout to email to students after the assembly.
Over 100 schools have now become Pint for Mike pilot schools and have shown this assembly to their Year 13s. The response has been incredible. These schools have committed to putting this assembly in their school calendar annually to raise awareness of the importance of blood donation.
I urge you to do the same and go to the to sign your school up and receive your free resource pack.
If it were your mum, your child or your friend who needed blood, you would want it to be available, so let’s all do our bit to encourage blood donation.
Raising awareness of blood donation
There are huge benefits for both students and schools in raising awareness of blood donation. It gives students such a sense of self-worth, as they are giving back to their community when they donate blood.
For schools, it is an authentic opportunity to put the words of your school values into action. Some of the schools we have worked with are even organising trips to blood centres as their students are so keen to give back, which is just beautiful.
In times when budgets are tight in schools, this is all completely free, which means there is no excuse not to get involved.
So, this Christmas, commit your school to delivering this important message about blood donation in honour of my courageous husband Mike.
This Christmas, aim to donate blood yourself by . It is the best gift you could ever give and will literally save multiple lives. What’s stopping you?
Lorna Newbrook is learning coach and strategic lead for North Kent post-16 education at Northfleet Technology College, and a former deputy headteacher
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