RIGHT UNTIL THE day she died, Carol Steward fought tirelessly to make other people’s lives better.

Now her son is carrying on in her name — starting by backing an Oxfordshire blood drive.

Mrs Steward was a well-loved Bicester town councillor, who passed away last month.

She inspired thousands of people to give blood after receiving countless infusions during an eight-year battle with leukaemia.

Son Daniel, 25, said the family had never realised the importance of donating until his mother had to call on the blood bank herself.

He said: “It’s one of those things you don’t think about until it happens to you or someone from your family.

“You never stop to think, what if the blood and platelets weren’t there. You take it for granted that they always will be.”

That is why Mr Steward, who is a disabled weightlifter, is backing a call by the NHS Blood and Transplant Service for more people to donate during the summer months.

Each year, the number of people who donate during August dips, as people take time off for holidays.

But 7,000 units of blood are still needed every day to help save the lives of sick and injured patients across England and North Wales – with hundreds in the county alone.

Mr Steward was so determined to carry on in his popular mother’s name, that on the day she died, just hours after he held her hand as she passed away, he and wife Emma went straight away to give blood.

And at Mrs Steward’s celebration of life service, which was held last Friday at Garth Park, the first to be held at the park, Mr Steward used his last words in tribute to his mother to plead with people to give blood and platelets and sign up to the bone marrow register.

He said: “It was our way of giving something back. That’s why we went straight away to donate.

“People who knew mum knew what she was like. She refused flowers at the funeral. Instead she wanted donations to the Clinical Haematology Ward, at the Churchill Hospital that looked after her.

“She wouldn’t have wanted us to be sitting around moping.

“If anything was to come of her passing away, I know she would have wanted other people to be helped.

“That’s just what she was like.”

Tributes at Mrs Steward’s packed funeral were led by Daniel and step-daughter Katie Simmons, who talked about a very ‘special’ lady who she never felt the need to refer to as a ‘stepmother’. Stepdaughter Jo Steward also attended, and there were tributes from friends and fellow ‘Ladies who Lunch’ Jo Langton, Janet Robinson and Miranda Markham, who read out a poem she had written for Mrs Steward.

Former Bicester Community College headteacher Cynthia Bartlett, former Bicester mayor Richard Mould and Timothy Hallchurch, chairman of Cherwell District Council, all shared their memories of the town and district councillor.

The last song played at the ceremony was Daniel, by Elton John, chosen by Mrs Steward as a final farewell to her beloved son.

Mrs Steward, 63, originally from Wales, and who remained ‘fiercely Welsh,’ was a former committee chairman at the town and district councils. She oversaw Bicester in Bloom and had been a governor at Bicester Community College since 1999.

The former hairdresser and clothing store manager moved to Bicester in 1984 with her former husband Les to take over the Red Lion pub, in Stratton Audley.

The couple also ran the Sow & Pigs at Poundon for a time.

In 2004, Mrs Steward was given just weeks to live after being diagnosed with leukaemia.

But she defied doctors and battled through chemotherapy and eventually had a bone marrow transplant.

During her illness she spearheaded a successful campaign to get as many people as possible to join the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow register.

Sadly the disease returned, and on Wednesday, July 27, Mrs Steward died surrounded by her family at Oxford’s Churchill Hospital.

l Anyone aged between 17 and 65, weighing more than 50kg (7 stone 12lbs) and in general good health could potentially start saving lives by becoming a blood donor.

There is no upper age limit for donors who have donated in the last two years. To book an appointment call the Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23 or visit blood.co.uk