'My life has restarted' says nine-year-old boy following rare blood transfusion

Qasim Rizwan, from Bolton, has a rare mix of bloods which complicated his ability to overcome autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA) and now says he feels as if his “life has restarted.”

Qasim was diagnosed with AIHA in June last year, but doctors at Manchester Children’s Hospital initially struggled to match his blood type.

Scientists at NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) discovered he was a rare mix, including r’r’, a subtype of the Rhesus system that is shared by roughly one in 10,000 people.

Only around 50 blood donors are type r’r’, and a rare donor was specifically called up to give blood to Qasim.

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Staff at NHSBT Liverpool’s frozen blood bank urgently defrosted and sent all six matching units of blood from its national frozen blood bank, as well as sending another unit from its facility in Colindale.

AIHA is a rare disorder, which impacts around 1,200 people in the UK each year and causes the immune system to mistakenly target and destroy red blood cells faster than the body can make them.

Symptoms include extreme tiredness, a rapid heartbeat and jaundice.

“I felt like I was going to die,” said Qasim. “I was really scared, hoping I would survive, and eventually I did.

“I really like the doctors, they helped me so much. They were so kind to me and they calmed me down if I was sad or angry.

“I feel like I have my daily routine and everything is back to normal. My life has restarted. I just feel unique and it’s quite amazing that I have rare blood.”

Qasim’s mother, Mahnaz Nazar, said her son “was a fit and healthy eight-year-old” before symptoms started.

“It came on quite suddenly – he went from being healthy to waking up one morning with yellow eyes and skin.

“At the doctors, everything was going haywire. His heart rate was high and he was getting breathless just speaking – the doctors were surprised he was still walking.”

His mother, who has now also become a blood donor, said it took a week to figure out what was happening to her son before he was diagnosed with a blood issue, and was told his blood was difficult to match.

“Blood donors are amazing. I can’t thank them enough, without them, Qasim would probably not be here, he would not have survived, and we will be forever grateful for that,” said his mother.

Qasim visited NHSBT’s frozen blood bank in August with his father Rizwan Ahmed, 46, and brother Yusuf.

“Most of the people in the building saved my life and they are still saving lives too. Thank you to all the donors for donating blood to me because I have rare blood,” said Qasim.

Joanne Mathews, manager of the NHSBT frozen blood bank, said: “We work behind the scenes and almost never meet patients, so we loved hosting Qasim and his family.”

Rachael Barber, paediatric intensive care consultant and medical director for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, said: “Stories like Qasim’s show just how vital blood donations are to us to enable us to care for children with rare blood types.”