The children of the contaminated blood scandal – podcast | News

Ade Goodyear was 15 years old when he was told he had contracted HIV. Like around 30,000 other NHS patients – including more than 300 children – who received transfusions of blood or commercial blood products before 2019, he was infected by contaminated blood. Some patients have acquired HIV and hepatitis C from blood transfusions after childbirth or other medical procedures. Ade was infected with HIV at his school’s medical center.

Students at his college in Treloar, which had a specialist haemophilia unit, were among those injected with a blood plasma product called factor VIII concentrate. A decade ago, the World Health Organization raised concerns because it was a commercial product that mixed plasma from tens of thousands of often high-risk donors. If someone has an infection like HIV, it can infect the whole lot.

Andy Evans was diagnosed with hemophilia as an infant. He injected himself with factor VIII before he was four and says his parents were never informed of the risks. He contracted HIV from him at the age of six. He didn’t tell his parents for four years. His two brothers, who also had hemophilia, died after being given infected blood. When Andy later found out that many people knew the product was dangerous, he raised the alarm. For decades, Andy and other survivors have campaigned for recognition and accountability for what they went through. They were ignored and dismissed.

A six-year public inquiry into the NHS’s biggest treatment scandal will publish its final report on Monday. Andy and Ade – who were among the 380 people infected as children – speak out Helen Peed why it took so long for the truth to come out and what it’s like to fight for justice for so long.

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