She had cancer and needed donors to match her rare blood type. Girl, 4, is in remission
Zainab Mughal’s birthday was extra special this year.
That’s because the now 4-year-old girl, who celebrated her Feb. 7 birthday by blowing out candles and eating white-frosted cake, is done with her cancer treatments and is in remission.
“This is an amazing feeling,” said Zainab’s father Raheel Mughal in a video produced by OneBlood, the not-for-profit blood center. “It’s a true miracle.”
A year and a half ago, little Zainab, whose brown hair has started to grow back, was introduced to the world after doctors determined she had a very rare blood type, which made fighting her neuroblastoma even harder. Neuroblastoma is a rare cancer that mainly affects children. In Zainab’s case, a tumor may have been growing in her belly for 10 months before she was diagnosed.
Doctors said Zainab, who lives in Miami-Dade, would need blood transfusions during her cancer treatment, but she was missing a common antigen, called “Indian B.” Her body would reject any blood that carried the antigen, which stimulates the immune system to produce disease-fighting antibodies.
The blood type was so rare that OneBlood, with blood donation centers across Florida, issued a global call for a donor. It became a matter of genetics.
Both of Zainab’s parents are from Pakistan and the only people who could potentially be donors were those who were 100 percent Pakistani, Indian or Iranian with the blood type of “O” or “A.” Making the field even narrower: Less than 4 percent of that population is missing the Indian B antigen.
“We were obviously horrified at how rare it was,” said Dr. Iftikar Hanie, chief of pediatric hematology at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, part of Memorial Healthcare, where Zainab was treated. “It was a nightmare situation.”
OneBlood teamed up with the American Rare Donor Program (ARDP) — an agency that searches the world for rare blood — to find a match. More than 25,000 came forward to be tested. More than 4,000 units of blood were tested, according to OneBlood.
The result was five donors — two from the United States, two from the United Kingdom and one from Australia. All five donated each time they were eligible, which resulted in enough units to provide the lifesaving treatments to Zainab.
Zainab’s cancer treatment included chemotherapy, surgery and two bone marrow transplants. While she underwent those procedures, she needed a dozen blood and platelet transfusions.
“Zainab’s story has brought unprecedented global attention to the need for a diverse blood supply,” said Susan Forbes, a spokeswoman for OneBlood, in a news release. “There are many other patients, just like Zainab, who have extraordinarily rare blood needs.
“Finding compatible blood for these patients comes down to genetics. The only way to find specially matched blood for these patients is to increase the diversity of the donor population.”
Forbes said OneBlood has frozen units of the blood for Zainab if she ever needs it again. As a result of OneBlood’s global call, the nonprofit increased its rare blood supply, which could potentially help others.
She added it’s a good practice for people with rare blood types, and who are at least 17, the minimum age for blood donations without a parent’s consent, to store up their blood.
Zainab’s parents had a message for the donors.
“They are surely a lifesaver for us,” said Zainab’s father. “They have given my daughter a new life.”
Zainab had a message too: “Thank you, blood donor.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
