Find a Blood Drive
Find a Blood Drive
People come in all different shapes, sizes and blood types. The vast majority of blood types fall into one of the major ABO groups. However, for a small percentage of the population, finding someone else with the same blood type can be as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack.
Tymia Tells Her Story
Tymia is an inspiration in her attitude toward life and living with sickle cell disease. She needs blood transfusions from generous donors to help manage the illness. Sickle cell disease is a blood disorder that affects millions of people around the world. In the United States, as many as 100,000 people have the disease, approximately 90 percent being of African-descent. This year, about 1,000 babies will be born in the U.S. with sickle cell disease.
Patients like Tymia can require frequent blood transfusions throughout their lives to help avoid severe pain, acute anemia, organ damage and even stroke.
Red blood cells carry markers called antigens on their surface that determine one’s blood type. There are more than 600 known antigens besides A and B. Certain blood types are unique to specific racial and ethnic groups. Therefore it is essential that the donor diversity match the patient diversity. For example, U-negative and Duffy-negative blood types are unique to the African-American community. So Sickle cell patients with these blood types must rely on donors with matching blood types in the African-American community.
When blood is phenotypically matched (i.e., close blood type match), patients are at a lower risk of developing complications from transfusion therapy. For this reason, it is extremely important to increase the number of available blood donors from all ethnic groups.
Some Rare Blood Types by Ethnic Group
Maryclare Kolb has beta thalassemia, a blood disorder that reduces the production of normal hemoglobin in the body. Her treatment includes a blood transfusion every three weeks.
“Maryclare needs her blood transfusion to have a healthy life and grow and develop like other children,” said Edward Kolb, Maryclare’s father.
Thanks to blood transfusions, Maryclare gets to enjoy her favorite activities – singing and playing soccer.
She was born in south China and was adopted and came to the U.S. when she was 4. She hadn’t received transfusions prior to arriving in the U.S. and it had impacted her growth. As a 4 year old, she only weighed 30 pounds. She had an emergency blood transfusion and was hospitalized overnight when she arrived in Omaha. That was the first of many blood transfusions for Maryclare, who now receives blood transfusions regularly. And, Maryclare can tell when it is almost time for her next transfusion. Her mom said that there are times when Maryclare will tell her that she is tired and needs a transfusion.
If you're one of those special people with a rare blood type, or you just want to help, please schedule an appointment to donate today.