VIP donor with ultra-rare blood says she feels ‘honoured’ to help sick patients
A woman whose blood is so rare that it can be frozen for up to three decades every time she donates has said she feels “very special and honoured” to be able to help sick patients.
Mina Stoddart-Stones has been giving blood for years, but only recently realised she is considered a “VIP” to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).
There are only nine donors in the UK with the same blood as the 26-year old, and donations are used to help prevent fatal reactions during pregnancy and treat people with inherited blood disorders.
It would also be possible for her to donate for herself, with her blood stored in case she ever requires a transfusion.
Miss Stoddart-Stones, who lives in Bridgwater in Somerset and works in education, is on NHSBT’s UK rare donor panel, which comprises about 0.01% of 800,000 blood donors, or about 1,200 people.
Her blood is U negative and N negative, which means she is missing the antigens, proteins on the surface of red blood cells that act as markers, found in almost 100% of people in the UK.
It is also RO, a rare and vital subtype often found in people with black African or Caribbean descent.
Miss Stoddart-Stones, who was born in the US and was adopted by her parents as a baby, is given priority appointments and in the past has been called up to donate for specific patients.
She told the Press Association: “It is cool.
“It’s nice to know that it’s so rare and that it can help people.
“It makes me feel very special and honoured, actually, that I could help someone that is really poorly.”
Her donations have helped people in the UK but have also travelled as far as Portugal.
Joanne Mathews, manager of NHSBT’s National Frozen Blood Bank in Liverpool, told PA that meeting Miss Stoddart-Stones was like meeting “royalty”.
“You see these names regularly, and you have a connection to them,” she said.
“And when I met Mina, I said, ‘it’s like I’m meeting royalty’.
“Every time she donates, which is every time she can, we look for it and we freeze it.
“We know her name, and we will only let her blood go for patients with that exact type, because it is so rare.”
When rare donors give blood they are flagged as VIPs in the NHSBT system with a list then generated for the frozen blood bank to choose the units required for storage.
“We do try to keep at least 10 donations from each type, Ms Mathews said.
“But with the rare ones like Mina’s, we would freeze every donation, even if it went over 10, just because there are so little donors.”
Units earmarked for the frozen blood bank are ideally frozen within five days of being donated.
A cryoprotectant is then added to prevent it from being damaged. Blood can then be stored at the facility for up to 30 years.
Ms Mathews estimates that the oldest donation currently on site dates back to around 1999.
Donations can be thawed out in advance of planned care such as surgeries. The team are also on call 24/7 for urgent requests.
Units from people with rare blood like Miss Stoddart-Stones are used for patients with the same rare blood who are having an operation or need regular transfusions because of disorders such as sickle cell disease.
Ms Mathews said: “Mina’s blood is RO which is vital for our sickle cell disease patients, and where Mina’s blood has been issued to hospitals, it is probably to help those sickle cell patients who need regular transfusions.”
These donations are also used for women with rare blood who may need a transfusion during Cesarean sections, or to stop fatal reactions during pregnancy.
These reactions can happen when a mother with rare blood has a different blood type to her child.
Markers on red cells can cross the placenta, causing haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn (HDFN), a serious condition which can lead to severe anaemia in babies.
In these cases, medics can perform a transfusion on babies while they are still in the womb through an artery in the umbilical cord.
Elsewhere, in emergencies, patients would be given O negative blood at hospital and, once the bleeding is under control medics will request rare blood from the frozen bank.
Miss Stoddart-Stones said she was not aware of how rare her blood is until she was contacted by NHSBT, but had started to wonder why her packs were different when she donated.
She said: “Before they took the donation, it was on the notes ‘put in a freezer bag’. They asked me why, I was like, ‘I don’t know’.”
Miss Stoddart-Stones, who is also on the stem cell register, said she wants to help the health service after being poorly as a baby and after her father was treated for cancer.
“It’s just that sense of giving back,” she said.
“How can I give back to the NHS when they’re going through hard times, especially at the moment, and during Covid as well?
“That little little bit that I can do helping them as much as they’ve helped my family.”
The frozen blood bank, which is the only facility of its kind in the UK, currently has 12 units of Miss Stoddart-Stones’ blood stored, with just over 1,000 units of rare blood in total.
Miss Mathews added: “The demand for all RO blood is rising by 10-15% every year.
“So without more donors, we can’t always provide the best match quickly enough.
“That’s where they come to us, but our blood isn’t quick.
“It takes time to process and get it to the hospital.”
Miss Stoddart-Stones also urged others to donate blood.
“I think it is really important to support the NHS, even if it is that half an hour,” she told PA.
“It’s really important to do.
“It doesn’t really take much out of our day and we get a biscuit at the end of it.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub