“Without you, I wouldn’t be here”, Crash survivor urges others to donate blood after needing 100 transfusions

Richard meeting Air Ambulance Crew 

After a near-fatal car crash, Neath resident Richard Jones lost a significant amount of blood and needed 100 units in total to survive. This National Blood Donor Week (08–14 June 2026), he’s saying thank you to the donors who saved his life and calling on others to give blood with the Welsh Blood Service.

In 2020, Richard was driving in Carmarthenshire when his truck hit a barrier, causing it to flip, leaving him in need of urgent medical attention.

Thanks to the quick actions of a passerby, a former Army medic, helped Richard by applying two makeshift tourniquets, reducing the bleeding. Other members of the public helped to keep him conscious until Wales Air Ambulance arrived.

Medics immediately administered six units of blood at the roadside, stabilising him enough to be transferred to Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

Richard spent ten days in a coma and sustained extensive injuries, including a shattered hip, multiple fractures, a torn posterior cruciate ligament, and severe trauma to both legs.

His right leg was later amputated above the knee due to a severed artery. Over the following weeks, he underwent nine major surgeries and required a further 94 units of blood.

Richard says the kindness of strangers, both at the scene and from blood donors across Wales, is the reason he is alive today:

“At the time, I had no idea how many people it would take to save my life. Looking back now, it’s overwhelming to think how many strangers stepped forward to help me.”

During his long recovery, Richard met his partner, Michaela. Today, they are proud parents to their young son, Dougie. Since the accident, Richard has adapted to life with a prosthetic limb and continues to share his story to inspire others to donate blood.

Richard and his partner Michaela and son Dougie

Richard continued: “I would just like to say a huge thank you to anyone donates blood, without you, I wouldn’t be here. You never know whose life you’re going to save or change.”

Alan Prosser, Director of the Welsh Blood Service, said: “We always say one donation can save three lives, but in Richard’s case, it took a community of lifesavers.

“One hundred units is a staggering amount of blood for one person to receive. It’s only possible because people generously give up an hour of their time to help people in need.

” National Blood Donor Week is the highlight of our annual calendar. However, the summer months can be especially challenging, with hot weather and more donors travelling abroad affecting donation levels.

“If you can do it, try giving blood this summer, and help people in their time of need, just like our donors helped Richard.”

Missing Type

As part of its National Blood Donor Week celebrations, the Welsh Blood Service is revisiting one of its most effective campaigns, ‘Missing Type’.

First launched in Wales in 2016, it captured hearts and headlines with brands, businesses, organisations and the public removing the letters A, B and O from their names and logos to highlight the importance of these blood groups.

Richard meeting HRH The Prince of Wales

Alan Prosser added: “The original campaign inspired people across Wales to remove the letters O, A and B from social media names and business logos, encouraging people to imagine a world without these critical blood types. The difference it made then, and the conversations it started, are exactly why it’s returning now.”

The Welsh Blood Service’s Missing Type campaign runs throughout June, creating a month-long focus on the importance of blood donation across Wales. At its heart is National Blood Donor Week (8–14 June 2026), a powerful moment to celebrate existing donors and inspire more people to step forward and become what the campaign calls the “Missing Type”.

To find out more and book a blood donation, visit www.wbs.wales/NBDW26