Worcestershire man highlighting importance of blood and plasma donations
Stephen Franklin from Hollywood became a plasma donor in 2020 but can longer donate due to a cancer diagnosis that he's now in remission from which was picked through him donating
A man living in Worcestershire has teamed up with the NHS to shine a spotlight on the significance and impact donating blood and plasma can have and how it also led to him receiving a cancer diagnosis.
Stephen Franklin from Hollywood was initially a blood donor, but went on to become a dedicated plasma one for five years and collected more than 150 credits for his contributions in the process.
After contracting COVID-19, the former army helicopter co-pilot and retired firefighter of 27 years went onto donate more plasma than anyone else to a treatment trial in England and at the time was the first person in the UK to hit 10 donations of plasma for the COVID-19 convalescent plasma programme in 2020.
The 60-year-old can now no longer donate after he received a cancer diagnosis last year that he is now in remission from, which was picked up at what was to be his last donation in January 2025 where he was told he was unable to donate plasma due to a low haemoglobin reading.
"It was because of plasma donation that my prostate cancer was found because at the start of donating the first thing you do every time is you have a test for your iron levels in your blood and for the first time ever my iron levels weren't high, which surprised me," he said.
"Then I went to see my GP to get a full blood test from him and that picked up some anomalies with my PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen), which is how they check how your prostate is.
"I was then sent on for further tests, scans, biopsies and eventually I found out that I had prostate cancer."
Recovery process
Last August 2025, Stephen had his prostate surgically removed – just a day after his 60th birthday, and at the end of November 2025 was able to return to working as a teaching assistant in a school for pupils with special educational needs.
He's now encouraging others and highlighting why donating can make such a difference.
"A lot of people don't know the actual plasma itself can help in over 50 different diseases, it can help people who have had serious burns, it can help in cancer cases, so it’s a really important thing," he said.
"When they opened the plasma centre in Birmingham, I was lucky enough to go along and help with the actual opening and there was a lady there who had actually had the plasma given to her to help with her condition.
"She was telling me what a difference it had made to her life and that was just a really nice thing to meet somebody that had actually received the plasma and it had changed their life."
Since the first UK-donated plasma medicines reached patients in March 2025, more than 2,200 NHS patients have benefited from these vital medicines.