‘Needle in a haystack’ blood search for Adelaide mum goes international

The search for suitable blood for an Adelaide mother desperately in need of a donation ahead of urgent heart surgery has gone international, with blood bags being flown in from the UK.

Amira Soliman is awaiting the surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and is expected to need at least 20 bags of blood before, during and after the procedure.

The 37-year-old from Port Adelaide has a “very rare” combination of blood types, prompting the Lifeblood branch of the Australian Red Cross to launch an urgent nationwide search last week.

Three suitable donors were found in South Australia, Queensland and Victoria, as donation appointments jumped by 102 per cent in Ms Soliman’s home state — and 14 per cent nationally — between Thursday and Saturday.

A fourth compatible donor has now been identified in Victoria, but Lifeblood has said it is not yet at the halfway point of collecting enough blood for the surgery to proceed, and that two bags containing matching blood are being flown in from overseas.

“Australia’s connected to an international rare-donor registry, and so when a call goes out for a rare blood group, blood can travel across borders,” Lifeblood spokesperson Emily Granland said.

“But we know that within Australia there may be some more matches, so we really do encourage people to come forward.”

Lifeblood said the public response had so far been “incredible”, with “people responding in their droves”.

“There have been a lot of people who’ve donated blood for the first time … so Amira’s story has really resonated with them,” Ms Granland said.

“Amira does need lifesaving heart surgery so we really do need this blood as soon as we can get it.”

But Lifeblood said the search was nevertheless the medical equivalent of “finding a needle in a haystack”.

Ms Soliman’s husband, Ahmed Elhayes, last week made a desperate appeal to potential donors, saying there was only “a small window”.

“Until we receive the required quantity, there is no surgery,” he said.

He said Ms Soliman first noticed something was wrong early last month, after she dropped off her two sons at school.

“She called me from the school,” Mr Elhayes said. 

“She was feeling pain in the chest, back and shoulder so we went to the emergency [department].

“They found she has the aortic valve in a severely leaking condition, and she needs to replace it as soon as possible.”

Lifeblood is urging people with blood types A and O to book a donation on its website.

“Most people know about A and O blood groups, but within these main groups there are hundreds of varieties,” Mr Eldridge said.

“Amira has a rare combination of them, with just one in 10,000 donations likely to be a match.”