Hope for Haseeb as 
sister gives him ‘magic blood’ gift

Five-year-old Haseeb Ahmed, from Rotherham, is waiting to see if his rare disorder – Beta thalassemia major – has vanished, after his sister Hannah, two, donated life-saving stem cells and bone marrow.

He currently undergoes blood transfusions every four weeks as his red blood cells don’t function properly, but is hoping to wave goodbye to the condition by Christmas.

His mother Fozia Ahmed, 31, said: “For us it’s just a case of hoping at the moment, but we are positive.

“Haseeb is very close to his little sister Hannah and there is a lot of love between the two of them. They’re always causing mischief together. We should find out just before Christmas, so it could be a really special extra gift.”

Amazingly, the majority of the stem cells donated by Hannah were collected from her umbilical cord – which was frozen for two years after she was born – 
before tests were carried out to confirm that she was an exact match.

A bone marrow transplant topped up the cells needed, before they were given to Haseeb through a blood transfusion in June.

Mrs Ahmed said: “They told us she was a match, which was amazing. It was the closest we could get because they are brother and sister.

“She went to theatre in the morning and he had the transfusion in the afternoon. It was a tense day but it will give them a really unique bond.

“Haseeb says he has Hannah’s magic blood. I am sure she will find a way to hold that over him in the future!”

Mrs Ahmed and Haseeb’s father Afzaal discovered that he suffered from the rare condition following a routine prick test after he was born. The couple were told that their son would need constant blood transfusions to treat the disorder, and the only cure would be a stem cell transplant.

The family were referred to Professor Ajay Vora, a consultant paediatric haematologist at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, who said the procedure was something it could do.

“It was such a blessing and the icing on the cake following Hannah’s arrival,” Mrs Ahmed added.

Haseeb is now being checked every few weeks to see how his body reacts to his sister’s stem cells, in the hope that doctors will find out he has been permanently cured.

Mr Ahmed, 28 who works in a sandwich factory, told The Yorkshire Post: “We are very grateful to the staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and to Professor Vora for everything he has done for Haseeb.”

Beta thalassemia major is a very uncommon condition and typically affects one out of every 100,000 people.

Sufferers usually begin to experience symptoms within the first two years of life with severe anaemia, poor growth and skeletal abnormalities.

Untreated thalassemia major eventually leads to death, usually by heart failure.

As such, a high degree of emphasis is placed on early screening in babies to help identify the presence of the disorder as soon as possible.