Thousands of people across Canada donate blood after mad cow-related ban lifted

TORONTO — Padma Ranjan used to pass a blood donation centre on her bus ride to work in Vancouver and wish she could donate. Her family had been regular blood donors when she was growing up in Malaysia. She moved to the U.K. in the late 1970s and came to Canada about 10 years later. Her desire to give blood intensified in recent years when her husband developed internal bleeding in his upper bowel and required weekly blood transfusions. “When he first needed the blood I thought ‘Oh my God. I could have given,'” said Ranjan, who is 69. Ranjan’s years in the U.K. made her ineligible to donate in Canada because of concerns around the possible transmission of variant…