In pursuit of ‘rare blood type’: Global campaign underway for two-year-old Muslim girl from Miami

MIAMI: The entire world has come together under one cause aimed at saving the precious life of a two-year-old girl battling cancer. 

For the said purpose, a global quest is underway to find a rare blood type.

The two-year-old from South Florida, Zainab suffers from Neuroblastoma,  a cancer that grows from immature nerve cells surrounding the adrenal glands that affects children of five years of age or under. The toddler is currently seeking treatment at  Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. 

Zainab's initial diagnosis of high-risk Neuroblastoma came a few weeks ago. According to the family and her doctors, the Neuroblastoma is believed to be growing in her abdomen for about 10 months now.

To aid in her fight against cancer, OneBlood, a non-profit blood donation organisation in the United States, has launched a worldwide campaign that is dedicated in finding the right blood type for Zainab as she is required to undergo multiple transfusions in the future. 

Click here to help find Zainab a blood donor

As per the details mentioned by Zainab’s family and her doctors, donors must be of Pakistani, Indian, or Iranian lineage. This means that both the parents of the donors must be from Pakistan, India or Iran and the blood type should be either “O” or “A.” This is because  Zainab’s blood type is extremely hard to find as it is devoid of an antigen called “Indian B”, that is present in most people in their red blood cells.

To be compatible with Zainab, an ideal blood type will be missing the Indian B antigen or else chances are that she would reject the blood.

"The possibility of us finding a compatible donor for this little girl within the right ethnic group we want to screen is less than four percent," Frieda Bright, OneBlood's Reference Laboratory Manager said.

In order to meet the said pre-requisites, the blood donation organisation has decided to expand its search across the globe with an aim to raise 7-10 donors to donate blood over the period of Zainab’s treatment.

So far, at least three donors have been found, two in the United Kingdom and one in the U.S. 

Zainab’s parents however are not compatible donors.

Raheel Mughal, Zainab’s father said, "My daughter, she is still a long way away from being perfect.”

Dr Bright further explained, "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." 

As the search continues, the little girl’s family is already expressing gratitude to all the people who have shown up with a desire to help Zainab in her battle with cancer.

“What you're doing to save a human life, my daughter's life, is amazing," shared Mughal. "And once my daughter grows, I'm going to remind her, you know, that the effort was made for you in order to save your life,” he added.