Zainab Mughal is two years old and battling cancer. She has some of the rarest blood and needs transfusions from seven to 10 donors. Only four have been found.
According to OneBlood, only people of Pakistani, Indian or Iranian descent who have the same type of blood as Zainab, whose family hails from Pakistan, are likely to match with her. Less than 4% of people in those populations may match.
A CNN article said, “A person’s blood type is determined by antigens. Zainab’s blood is missing an antigen called Indian B, and her body will attack transfused blood that contains it. So, like Zainab, her donors need to be missing the antigen. In addition, they must have type O or A blood.”
“She’s going to need to be completely supported by blood donations in order to survive the cancer treatment in order to kill this cancer. The blood’s not going to cure her, but the blood’s very, very important to support her while she undergoes the treatment for this particular cancer.” said, Frieda Bright, a lab manager with OneBlood.
To learn more about Zainab, click here.