Mother With Rare Blood

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30739, 1 May 1965, Page 2

Mother With Rare Blood

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) BRISBANE, April 30. A Brisbane woman with a rare blood group has made history by giving birth to her second child, a girl, this week. Only one other woman, in the United States, with this rare blood group has two children. The successful caesarian birth came after several months of intense preparation by the Brisbane Red Cross blood bank, with the woman becoming the first person in Australia ever to donate blood for herself. The woman, who is 30, was found to be a medical rarity when she underwent a routine blood test before the birth of her first child in 1963 and it was discovered that she had Vel negative blood with antibodies. There are only 20 other known cases in the world. A test of 5500 blood donors in Queensland found only two suitable donors, the woman’s mother and another woman. A stockpile of blood was built-up from these three people in case the baby’s blood had to be changed after birth.

However, the baby was born perfectly normal and it is unlikely that she will have her mother’s rare blood grouping.