BLOOD donors are desperately needed across the county after bad weather saw cancelled donations and falling stocks.

Hundreds of patients at Oxfordshire's hospital will be given blood transfusion over Christmas but heavy snow last week has left NHS Blood and Transplant low on both O- and B- blood types.

Now the service has put out a rallying call for people to donate over the festive period and urgently appealed for those with special blood groups to come forward, as stocks are lower than needed to meet expected demand.

Some of the most seriously ill patients could find that their lives depend on a transfusion.

One family who will be forever grateful to blood donors is the Lawson family.

Nina and Andy Lawson have donors to thank for saving their eight-year-old Jon-Paul who owes his life to a blood transfusion which stabilised him during open-heart surgery.

Mrs Lawson, from Didcot, said: “Jon-Paul was just eight months old when he had to have open heart surgery, due to a serious heart defect.

“He was born at just 36 weeks and weighed 5lbs 5oz.

"By the time of his surgery he was the size of a three-month-old and weighed just 14lbs.”

Jon-Paul, who has Down's syndrome, was born with a partial Atrio-ventricular septal defect, which meant he had a hole between heart chambers and oxygen-rich blood was being mixed with oxygen-poor blood.

Mrs Lawson, 35, said: “The heart condition meant he found it difficult to put on weight because his heart was working overtime to keep him alive.

“If you are an adult you can use your own blood [during surgery] but because he was such a small baby, he had to use donor blood to essentially keep him alive.

“When he went for his surgery, he wouldn’t have made it much longer as he was a very poorly baby, he wouldn’t have made his first birthday without surgery.”

The youngster had to undergo the six hour surgery before a further week in hospital.

Mrs Lawson said: “He was miraculously only in for one week after surgery and I just couldn’t believe it as he had been such a poorly baby.

“He went from strength to strength.

“That first week was terrifying seeing the pain my child was going through.

“But after he had got over that point we could appreciate just how unwell he had been for most the first year he was in hospital.

“We came very close to him not being here many times and without the donor blood it obviously wouldn’t have been possible at all.

“It meant everything to us really, the surgery couldn’t have gone ahead otherwise and it doesn’t bare thinking about.”

One group who have made giving blood a social outing is the Oxfordshire Young Farmers group, Henley branch.

Member Laura Gascoyne, who has arranged two group donor session this year, she said: “The reason we started to do the group blood donations is because of the nation Young Farmers campaign #YFCLIFEBLOOD.

“We have since been in February and November and it was the first time I had given blood.

“It was very easy and my favourite part was the text you get to tell you where its gone, knowing it has helped.

“You never know when you might need it and going as a group has made it quite fun going along.”

Donors can sign up to appointments online but the NHS Blood and Transplant has said over Christmas those with O- and B- blood groups can just walk-in to the Oxford Donor Centre in Headley Way, Headington, near the John Radcliffe Hospital, and they will make room for them.

Visit nhsbt.nhs.uk

Jon Latham, of NHS Blood and Transplant said: “Seriously ill patients in Oxford will need blood this Christmas and they will rely on the generosity of people making time to donate now.

“If you know that you have one of these blood groups and you can donate please take action now and walk in and donate – you will save lives.”