How to keep a man's blood type 'more valuable than gold'

Possessing a rare blood type, Thomas is forced to protect himself from an early age because if an accident occurs, it will be difficult to find a blood donor for him.

46 years ago, in 1974, a Swiss boy (born in 1963) was taken to a hospital in Geneva to treat an infection. This is a fairly common disease among children.

When the doctors took blood tests, they discovered that it was so difficult for a child to carry such a rare blood that surviving, let alone healthy.

The boy in the story is Thomas. He is one of 43 other people in the world with rare blood: Rh-null.

Rh-null blood type - privileges associated with danger

Hard to believe what he was seeing, Dr. Marie-José Stelling, then Head of the Hematology and Immunology Laboratory at Geneva University Hospital, sent Thomas's blood sample to Amsterdam, Paris for analysis. . The results showed that the boy was Rh-null. And right away, every drop of Thomas's blood became precious to medicine and science.

Rh-null is called "golden" blood for two reasons. First, it has great scientific value that can help researchers solve the mystery surrounding the physiological role of the complex Rh blood system.

Secondly and most importantly, this type of blood can be passed to anyone in the Rh blood system. Therefore, its potential to save lives is huge. However, because it was so rare and almost irreplaceable, Rh-null was transmitted only to the most severe cases.

The "golden blood" of Thomas can be transmitted to anyone in the Rh system. (Photo: Twitter).

Associated with the above 'privilege' is the ability of Rh-null blood type to survive. Because it is rare for a person to share the same blood, it is very difficult to find it in the blood bank when needed. If they replenish someone's blood containing one of the 61 Rh antigens they do not have, it will immediately cause blood cell incompatibility, which is fatal.

Because of that rarity, hematologists in Geneva tested the blood of the remaining members of the Thomas family in hopes of finding more rare blood. But the results showed that only this boy possessed golden blood.

When Thomas was 18 years old, he was advised to donate blood to save for himself. At the time, there was no frozen blood bank in Switzerland so Thomas's blood had to be stored in Paris and Amsterdam.

Owning rare blood, the happiness of Thomas is saving people. A few years after the above blood donation, he received a call from an unknown number and was taken to the Geneva blood bank. It was the first time his blood had brought life to others - a newborn. This event also marks the process of blood donation to save Thomas.

Other times he was in Western Europe and then France or some European countries. Many of them did not fund Thomas's travel expenses, but this man was very willing.

Thomas donates blood to save people without claiming benefits. (Photo: Shutter Stock).

Bringing in precious blood, Thomas must also be very careful to protect his life. When he was young, he could not go to summer camp because his parents were afraid of an accident.

As an adult, Thomas also always needed precautions such as careful driving, not traveling to places without a qualified hospital. He was also exempted from military service.

In Thomas's wallet there is always a Rh-null blood type identification card from the French National Immunology and Hematology Laboratory in case he is hospitalized.

These blood donations made Thomas face more anemia. Therefore, he can only donate blood twice a year to ensure his health. Doctors also advised Thomas not to have children.

In 1994, when Atlantic made an article about Thomas, he expressed himself content with the present. This man did not have a haemophilia, which was a blessing to him. He was also happy that the special blood helped so many people.

Mechanism of forming the rarest blood type in the world

Red blood cells carry oxygen to all cells and tissues in the body. If we lose a lot of blood in surgery or in an accident, we need to replenish the lost blood. As a result, hundreds of millions of people rely on blood banks around the world in these emergency situations.

It would be simple if we all had the same bloodline. But that did not happen. On the surface of each red blood cell there are 342 antigen molecules capable of activating the production of specialized proteins called antibodies. It is the presence or absence of particular antigens that determines someone's blood type.

Nearly 160 types of antigens are considered common - they are found in the red blood cells of most people on Earth. If someone lacks an antigen that 99% of others have, then their blood type is considered rare. If someone lacks an antigen that 99.99% of Earth's population has, then that bloodline is considered extremely rare.

Rh-null blood type is considered to be "more valuable than gold" blood type because only 43 people in the world have it. (Photo: Theplanettoday).

There are 35 blood type systems, organized by genes that carry information to make antigens in each. In which Rh is the largest system with 61 antigens. It is not uncommon for people to lack these antigens.

Typically, 15% of Caucasian people lack D antigen - the most important antigen of Rh, causing them to have negative RhD blood type. In contrast, Rh-negative blood type is less common in Asians (only 0.3% of the population). But Thomas lacks all of the Rh antigen or Rh-null.

The Rh-null blood type was first described in 1961, in an Australian aboriginal woman. Until that year, doctors had thought that the embryo lacking all Rh blood cell antigens would not exist, or develop into an adult. From 1961-2010, nearly 5 decades later, the world discovered only 43 people with Rh-null blood type.