Tonight a mother's plea. We just, you know, can say please help. She is my life. She is my everything. She is my only child. But now only strangers can save two-year-olds' Zainab who has an aggressive cancer and a blood type so rare not even her family is a match. She actually lacks a particular antigen that the majority of the population has. Donors must have Type O or A blood and be of Iranian, Pakistani or Indian descent. The minority donor pool is already slim. But even in those populations fewer than 4% have the rare antibodies that match Zainab.
I've been doing this for over 20 years and this is the first time I've ever encountered this antibody. We almost said like, you know what, this is like the end of the world was. Florida Group One Blood is working with the Rare Donor Program but so far they've found only three matches. Two in the US and one in the UK. Zainab will need many more transfusions. Ideally we would like to have seven to ten identified donors that we knew would be compatible for Zainab. You can go to one blood org if you think you might be a match. She means everything to us. She is the princess of the family. A family counting on the kindness of strangers to save their little girl.