Cancers and cancer treatments can affect the ability of children to create the blood products our bodies need.

This can happen because cancer may interfere with how bone marrow produces red cells, white cells, and platelets. For example, leukaemia, which is a type a blood cancer almost always requires transfusions.

Patients with blood cancers use more than half the platelets produced by the Red Cross.

Treatments designed to fight cancers can also be so strong they make children unwell in other ways, such as many types of chemotherapy medicines that can decrease blood cell production and immunity.

Blood has different parts and each has a job in the body. Blood moves around the body in a fluid called plasma. The parts that can be separated and given to children in transfusions include:

• red cells: give blood its red colour and carry oxygen to all parts of the body
• white cells: help the body fight infection
• platelets: prevent bleeding by helping blood to clot
• plasma: clear or pale yellow in colour and contains proteins, minerals and clotting factors to stop bleeding
• albumin: helps fight infection and repair muscle tissue
• gamma globulin: type of protein found in blood plasma that helps boost the body’s immunity.