Update: The little girl in the story below is now in remission! After a global search to find donors with some of the rarest blood in the world, Zainab Mughal went through more than a year of treatment and survived, according to a OneBlood.
Original story:
Orlando, Fla. -- An international search is on to find some of the rarest blood in the world to help save the life of a 2-year-old South Florida girl.
Zainab has neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer. More than 1,000 local and national donations have been tested to match her blood; but of those, only three people have her rare blood type.
The toddler's blood is missing a common antigen that the majority of people have in their red blood cells. That antigen is called "Indian B." The matching donor would need to be missing their Indian B antigen and have blood types "O" or "A".
Statistically the only people who are likely to be a match are exclusively of Iranian, Indian or Pakistani descent. Even among those groups, only four percent are missing the Indian B antigen, according to Oneblood, the group that is working to find donors for Zainab.
Her parents aren't compatible.
"We need to find more...It's a humble request, and I request it from my heart," her father Raheel Mughal said. "My daughter's life very much depends on the blood. So, please, donate the blood for my daughter."
The 2-year-old will need at least seven donors because she'll require ongoing blood transfusions for an undetermined amount of time.
To learn more or find out if you're a match go to your local Oneblood donation center, which you can find by clicking here.
When you go to the donation center, you will need to specify that you're looking to donate to Zainab so the blood can be tagged and tested properly.
The way to do that is to tell the staff when you arrive that you would like to donate to Zainab. They will take a normal blood donation and send a small sample to their labs to find out. If you are not a match, your donated blood will go into their inventory to be used for others in need.
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