A MOTHER who nearly died days after giving birth says she feels grateful to be alive every day.

Amy Herbert needed 28 units of blood and plasma when she began bleeding heavily while she was still in hospital.

The 31-year-old pharmacist says it is thanks to the donors who made sure there was blood available that she has been able to see her only daughter Issy grow and develop into a lively six-year-old.

Ms Herbert, from Seaford, can no longer give blood herself but is urging people across the county to register to become a donor.

She said: “When I woke up in intensive care it was all a bit of a shock.

“At first you are simply grateful to be alive but then it really hits you that you could have died and that can take some getting used to.

“I do not have the words to express my gratitude to the 28 people who at some point in time shortly before I needed blood and platelets chose to spend their time helping someone they had never met.

“Without them I would never have taken Issy home from hospital, never pushed her in buggy or played her my favourite songs.

“I would not have heard her laugh, or even seen a true responsive smile from her.

“I would not have been there when she spoke, swam or rode her bike for the first time.

“There would have been no holding her hand in the playground on her first day of school, no first school nativity and no hearing about her day before bed.

“Issy would have done all of these things in my absence but I am so fortunate to have be a part of it.

“I sometimes wonder about the people whose blood saved me and if they thought much about where that particular donation would go.

“I would like to think a part of them knows the difference they made.

“It was a short time out of their life but it made a lifetime’s difference to me.”

National Blood Week starts on Monday and Ms Herbert is backing NHS Blood and Transplant’s call for more donors, particularly younger ones.

She said: “It is very quick and easy to do.

“Issy always goes along with my mother.

“I’m hoping she will also choose to become a donor when she is older and knows more about it.”