Mum given 65 blood bags to save her life

It was almost a year ago that Adele Darlington, who is 41 and from Warrington, was in a critical condition in hospital following massive bleeding while giving birth to her baby girl.

She was losing so much blood that she needed the equivalent of around three people's blood volume given back to her, says NHS Blood and Transplant.

Doctors treating her used 65 units or bags of blood and blood products to save her life.

An average woman has nearly five litres of blood pumping round her body. Adele lost 15 litres after her caesarean delivery, due to complications.

Adele had a low-lying placenta - also called placenta previa - a risky condition that increases the chance of dangerous bleeds.

It took four hours of surgery to deliver her daughter, Jasmine, then nine more hours of operating to stem the bleeding and repair the life-threatening damage the condition had caused.

She needed an urgent hysterectomy to remove her womb as well as some of her cervix, a fallopian tube and an ovary, plus part of her bladder.

Adele says she will forever be thankful to those who saved her: "Without the blood I received I basically wouldn't be here. I'm here because of those donors."

NHS Blood and Transplant says England remains on "amber alert" for low blood stocks. It says Christmas and New Year is always a challenging period, as donations drop.

People with O negative, B negative and Ro blood types are particularly needed in coming weeks.