A DENTAL nurse is looking forward to spending Christmas with her new husband after enjoying six more years of life and being able to marry thanks to blood donors.

But Emily Edwards, 28, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2012, is also aware that this Christmas could be her last as her condition is now terminal.

She is supporting NHS Blood and Transplant’s appeal for people to keep their blood donation appointments this Christmas to ensure patients have all the blood they need.

About one in four appointments to give blood were cancelled at short notice by donors in the week before Christmas last year, while one in ten simply failed to turn up.

NHS Blood and Transplant said it needs people to keep their appointments to avoid an even more serious pre-Christmas slump.

Mrs Edwards, from Eastbourne, told the Press Association: “I am still alive and able to spend Christmas with my family and husband thanks to the people who donated their blood, platelets and bone marrow.

“Without these people I wouldn’t be alive today.

“It honestly is the greatest gift.”

She has received about 60 units of blood and 35 to 40 units of platelets, which have enabled her to live for as long as she has, including celebrating her 28th birthday on December 19 and marrying husband Sam in April.

Mr Edwards, 29, a builder, proposed in February during a trip to Budapest.

The couple, who had been together for four years, originally planned to marry in November but brought the date forward after they received the news that there was no longer any chance of a cure and they were unsure how much time Mrs Edwards had left.

She said: “We basically organised the wedding in three days, with lots of help from our family and friends who went above and beyond to give us a magical day.

“We will never forget the effort they put in for us.”

Mrs Edwards was diagnosed after suffering a variety of symptoms while she was at university, including finding it difficult to breathe and catching various infections.

“When I came home, my mum took one look at me and said ‘There’s something wrong with you’,” she said.

“By the Monday, I was passing out just getting of the bath. My dad basically carried me to the doctor’s. I couldn’t support my own weight.”

She said that when she was given the diagnosis she felt too shocked to take it in. “My mum cried and my dad was physically sick.”

Her treatment has involved large amounts of chemotherapy and total body radiotherapy.

Acute myeloid leukaemia is an aggressive cancer where a patient’s bone marrow produces too many immature white blood cells, which then crowd out the bone marrow and prevent the creation of red blood cells and platelets.

Mrs Edwards had bone marrow transplants in 2014 and 2016 from a German donor – a man in his thirties – which changed her blood group from A positive to O positive.

The pair have written to each other.

She said: “The first transplant gave me 22 months, which was brilliant.

“He told me it was amazing that he could save somebody’s life from just a needle.

“They make such a difference, it’s crazy. One day you feel exhausted and then after the transfusion you are just a different person, you have much more energy.

“You want to say thank you to all these people so badly.

“I don’t think donors really understand how much it means.

“I would have died a long time ago without blood and platelets.”

NHS Blood and Transplant urged anyone who cannot make their appointment this Christmas to give at least three days’ notice so the slot can be given to someone else.

Director of blood donation Mike Stredder said: “Please keep your appointment to give blood.

“If you are having difficulties making your appointment, please make sure you contact us.

“We need our loyal donors more than ever at this time of year, to make sure hospitals have the blood that seriously ill children and adults will need over Christmas and the New Year. Each donation can save up to three lives.”