In 2019, keen tramper Monica Bean fell through a glass table and sliced the tibial nerve in her right leg. The past four years have been arduous and excruciating as she gradually got on her feet while dealing with CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome). 

There’s been a moon boot, countless medical specialists, many months on crutches and denial of her favourite healing and soul-soothing activity: tramping in the mountains. 

Now, Bean is now back tramping and working as a DOC ranger. Earlier this year she summited Taranaki Maunga, not bad for someone who could barely walk less than four years ago.

Her recovery was made possible by people’s donated blood.

“If it wasn’t for the blood donations I received, it could have been a very different story,” she says. “There were moments in my journey where I thought I would never get to feel a pack on my back again. So to anyone who gives blood or encourages their friends to do so, it quite literally saved my life.” 

One donation of blood can help up to three people. Every week NZ Blood needs 3000 donations. Once your blood is donated, it can be used in treatments for cancer patients, and those undergoing surgery or those, like Bean, who have had a traumatic accident.