Haemochromatosis patients get chance to donate blood

Ray Crowley is used to nurses sticking needles in him and endures what is medically known as a phlebotomy.

He attends the blood donor clinic at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork every three months but yesterday was the first time that he actually donated.

“Up to now they used to take my blood and throw it away,” said Ray, a father of two from Fermoy with haemochromatosis, a potentially deadly genetic disorder where an excessive amount of iron is absorbed from the diet.