“Every transfusion is a birthday for me. Because it’s like a rebirth “. So tells of her illness Enza Ricotta, the patient with thalassemia major protagonist, together with donor Emilio Pursumal, of the spot presented this morning at the Ministry of Health to raise awareness of blood donations. That never as this year – thanks to the Covid emergency and a trend that has been recorded for about ten years – are in sharp decline. Especially in the summer. Compared to 2019, there is -1.8% of donors, a decrease that has continued since 2012 and is also recorded in the first months of 2022. The risk is an emergency of blood shortage, in the summer period, even more accentuated than in the past. And this has important repercussions on the possibility of performing surgical interventions, in general, and for life-saving therapies such as in beta thalassemics.
This is why the Piera Cutino Association has designed an information campaign, of which the spot is only one of the elements, to explain how little it takes to save a life: 15 minutes, the duration of a sample. “We hope that all this will increase blood donations especially among the youngest – says Giuseppe Cutino, brother of Piera (who died in 82 of thalassemia) and founder of the Association. “World Blood Donor Day was celebrated on June 14 and our association, which has always been committed to the defense of thalassemia patients, this year wants to spread a simple and incisive message to underline the fundamental contribution of donations to those affected by this pathology. For the commercial we chose a real blood donor and a patient to tell the reality we are talking about without any fiction “.
“Despite the new therapies, blood transfusions represent life-saving treatments for thalassemia patients”, explains Gian Luca Forni, Director of the Microcythemia Department of the Galliera Hospital in Genoa. Patients with beta thalassemia have an average of two blood transfusions per month for life. New treatment options make it possible to reduce blood needs by up to 50% and improve the quality of life of these people, but transfusions are still an indispensable option.
And blood shortage is just one of the problems facing this industry. The other is the aging of the donor population by 9.6% compared to 2012. This is why it is important to act above all on the youngest, for example through targeted interventions in schools, as pointed out by Donata Forioso, Head of Communications at the National Blood Center.
The video, made with the support of Fondazione Sicilia and Celgene, is therefore built around a particular message: “We are all united by a red thread”, which in the spot is represented by a chromatic note of this color that is found in each of the participants in the initiative. A red thread that is good not only for those who receive, but also for those who give. “Knowing that someone is able to live thanks to you is an indescribable emotion. Making this commercial meant for me to be able to tell a feeling that I have been feeling for years. The red thread that unites donors and patients really exists, ”adds donor Pursumal. But above all, it is the leitmotif of the meeting, it is good to remember that blood is not only needed by patients with thalassemia. It may be necessary for an emergency, scheduled surgery, at any time in life. And therefore it is the entire population that must be involved in this problem. “The time has come to put blood donation at the center of public health interventions – concludes Aurelio Maggio, Director of the Franco and Piera Cutino Hematology Campus – It is necessary that, urgently, as for Cov19, both the Ministry of Health and that of Education, invest in training, advertising and resources for this sector ”.