Eleven months old tomorrow, the Balclutha twins are in good health, but during pregnancy Mrs Ioane (34) needed cryoprecipitate transfusions twice a week in Dunedin.
More than 200 donations were necessary for the transfusions.
Derived from plasma, the transfusions were because of a rare blood disorder called hypofibrinogenemia.
Today is World Blood Donor Day.
The twins visited the Dunedin donor centre yesterday, drawing much admiration from donors and staff. The condition, which runs in Mrs Ioane's family and also affected her sister, can cause miscarriages.
She said without both the blood service, and the Otago Fertility Service, her daughters could not have been born.
A former blood donor, Mrs Ioane said she had not understood how important the service was, before she needed it.
