ORLANDO, Fla. — A worldwide hunt is on to find blood donors for a 2-year-old South Florida girl with a rare blood type who is also battling cancer.

  • Zainab's blood is missing the Indian B antigen
  • Condition only affects a small percentage of certain populations
  • OneBlood looking for 7 to 10 compatible donors

OneBlood is leading the search for Zainab, a two-year-old girl in South Florida who has an aggressive form of cancer called neuroblastoma.

Zainab's blood is missing a common antigen. Indian B, which most people carry in their red blood cells. If Zainab gets a blood donation from someone who has the antigen, her body will reject it.

OneBlood says people who are of Indian, Pakistani or Iranian descent are statistically the only people to be a possible donor match for Zainab, and of those groups, less than 4 percent are missing the Indian B antigen.

OneBlood says it's found three matches so far, but the child will need blood transfusions for the foresseable future, which means more donors must be found. They group says they are looking for at least 7 to 10 compatible donors.

To qualify, potential donors must be:

  • Exclusively of Pakistani, Indian or Iranian descent, which means the donors birth parents also must have an exclusive ancestry
  • Must be blood type "O" or "A"

To see if you are compatible, go to the OneBlood page created for Zainab. All donations must be coordinated in advance to ensure compatibility.

OneBlood runs blood donor centers across the Southeast.