La Llacuna campaign surpasses 350 target with over 400 donations in three days, boosted by student

**Andorra Red Cross blood drive at La Llacuna exceeds 400 donations in successful 2026 launch**

The Andorran Red Cross's opening blood donation campaign of 2026 wrapped up Thursday at the La Llacuna Cultural Centre in Andorra la Vella, drawing more than 400 donations over three days—well above the usual 350. Joan Saurí, the organisation's secretary general, called the total "stratospheric" and pointed to over 150 contributions on the final day. He credited the central location's draw, approved by the Catalan Blood and Tissue Bank, which processes all collections.

This was the eighth year partnering with secondary students from the Andorran Schools in Encamp and Ordino, who studied the circulatory system and created promotional materials during the first term. Their involvement brought new donors, including young people accompanied by parents, which Saurí hailed as a strong foundation for future events. The venue switch will continue with the next drive alongside Sant Ermengol school, potentially lifting the annual goal past 1,500 donations across five campaigns. Saurí noted heightened public awareness after a rail accident in Adamuz, Spain, adding that each donation can save up to three lives and must come from human sources.

Donors queued early on day one. Carolina made her second gift to bolster emergency stocks, while Pedro resumed to aid others, perhaps family or himself. Carina, with 25 years as an O-negative donor, stressed its universal compatibility. Marc from Tarragona preferred the setup to hospital sessions in Reus. Volunteers Albert and Guillermo helped out, with Guillermo mentioning his recent cornea donation commitment.

The drive aligned with SAAS tissue donation efforts at Hospital Nostra Senyora de Meritxell, started in 2025, which have boosted cornea and bone marrow registrations. Cornea pledges, logged via advance directives on salut.ad, the health ministry or College of Physicians, yielded up to 10 donors and six successful transplants in the first five months—all viable and performed in Spain to treat conditions like retinal detachment, chemical burns or central-eye herpes infections. Nurse Víctor García, SAAS donation manager, shared resident David's account of his partner's leukaemia survival thanks to a marrow donor, underscoring that such acts "save lives."

Nurse and midwife Tina Mirpuri described modern bone marrow donation as straightforward—a single arm puncture like dialysis, where blood passes through a machine to extract stem cells, which are sent to Barcelona's Blood and Tissue Bank. Preliminary tests occur locally, covered by CASS, and blood samples for genetic profiling (HLA protein matching) are taken on-site during blood drives. Mirpuri noted that repeat donors signal growing awareness, even if new sign-ups vary. García emphasised cornea donation's post-mortem nature, easing family decisions in grief via pre-registered consent, and cited colleague Raül Llobet's 2023 transplant recovery from an eight-year-old herpes infection that had nearly blinded him in one eye.

The next blood drive is set for late March at the Toni Martí pavilion with MoraBanc Andorra.