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Boy's Rare Blood Type Saves Life with National Blood Supply
12 Sep
Summary
- A nine-year-old boy needed all available compatible blood nationwide.
- He was treated for autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA).
- His rare blood type, r'r', is carried by only 50 donors.
A nine-year-old boy named Qasim Rizwan has had his life transformed after receiving a life-saving treatment for autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA), a rare disorder affecting approximately 1,200 individuals annually in the UK. This condition causes the immune system to mistakenly target and destroy red blood cells at an unsustainable rate.
Doctors at Manchester Children's Hospital initially struggled to find matching blood for Qasim due to his rare blood type, which includes the r'r' subtype, a rarity shared by only about 50 donors in the country. In a critical intervention, the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) national frozen blood bank in Liverpool mobilized all six available matching units, supplemented by an additional unit from another facility.
Qasim's treatment involved these transfusions alongside other medications, steroids, and immunoglobulin. He described the experience as feeling like his "life has restarted" and expressed gratitude to the donors and medical staff. His mother recounted the terrifying onset of his symptoms, which included jaundice and extreme fatigue, emphasizing the urgency of their situation and the remarkable effort to secure the necessary blood supply.
