{
  "id": 12780755,
  "title": "Marshnee Pillay recounts leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses after her baby needed a transfusion",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/marshnee-pillay-recounts-leaving-jehovahs-witnesses-after-her-baby",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-08T04:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IOL",
    "slug": "iol",
    "url": "https://iol.co.za/thepost/news/2026-10-08-marshnee-pillay-recounts-leaving-jehovahs-witnesses-after-her-baby-needed-a-transfusion/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Almost five years ago, Marshnee Pillay left Jehovah’s Witnesses to save her baby's life. Her 11-month-old daughter had been diagnosed with thalassemia major and required regular red blood cell transfusions. At the time, Pillay believed accepting blood was against her faith, making the decision to allow her daughter to receive treatment a life-altering one. Today, the six-year-old still travels to a Durban hospital every three weeks for a pint of red blood cells to stay alive. However, the Jehovah’s Witnesses' recent announcement that individual members can now choose whether to accept donor blood, white blood cells, plasma, and platelets has left Pillay deeply hurt and frustrated.\n\nPillay expressed her anger, stating that the change takes her back to the uncertainty, fear, and sense of rejection she experienced when her daughter was first diagnosed. She questioned why the change didn't happen sooner, especially when her child needed it. Pillay and her husband reached out to the organization for guidance, but claim they received advice consistent with the stance against blood transfusions. Ultimately, they made the decision to leave the faith, prioritizing their child's life-saving treatment over their religious beliefs.\n\nThe organization's recent announcement, which extends the principle of personal decision-making to primary blood components, has left Pillay heartbroken and angry. She feels that the change could have been made earlier and regrets her choice to leave the faith. Despite this, she has no regrets about her decision to prioritize her child's health.",
  "summary": "A Port Shepstone mother says a new Jehovah’s Witnesses policy on blood components has reopened the trauma of leaving the faith to secure life-saving transfusions for her daughter",
  "key_points": [
    "Marshnee Pillay left Jehovah’s Witnesses to save her daughter’s life",
    "Daughter needed regular red blood cell transfusions due to thalassemia major",
    "Jehovah’s Witnesses now allow personal choice on blood transfusions"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The Jehovah’s Witnesses' change in stance on blood transfusions has reopened painful wounds for Marshnee Pillay, who left the faith to save her daughter's life, and underscores her past feelings of rejection and uncertainty.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}