Toddler with rare blood type released from hospital after undergoing bone marrow transplant

Zainab Mughal will likely need additional blood transfusions in future

MIAMI – A 3-year-old girl from South Florida who captured hearts around the world with her need for some of the rarest blood in the world has been released from Nicklaus Children's Hospital after undergoing her second bone marrow transplant.

Zainab Mughal also received multiple blood transfusions during her stay in the hospital and finally went home on Monday.

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Zainab has neuroblastoma, a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells around the adrenal glands and most commonly affects children age 5 or younger.

According to a OneBlood news release, it will be several months before it’s known whether the cancer has been put into remission.

Zainab still has additional treatments ahead of her, including radiation and immunotherapy. 

She will also likely need additional blood transfusions as she enters the next phase of her cancer treatment, the news release stated.

Thousands of people from around the world have reached out to OneBlood in hopes of being a match for Zainab, who was in need of multiple blood donors.

According to OneBlood, Zainab is missing a common antigen known as the Indian B antigen and can only receive blood from people who are also missing the same antigen.  

The blood type is rare and is likely only to be found in people who are 100 percent Indian, Iranian or Pakistani. They must also have Type A or Type O blood. 

OneBlood stated that only 4 percent of people from those areas are likely to be missing the Indian B antigen.
 


About the Author:

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.