So for the record, the responses so far to the question I posed yesterday regarding blood type have been very interesting. Out of the 11 responses I've received up to the time of this post (10:53 pm EST), NINE of our precious HLHS babies have A+ blood. Approximately 82% of responders. The other two responders included one O+ and one A- baby. Oh, and another random piece of info? I've always read that HLHS is more common in boys than girls. Of the 11 responses I received? Only 3 of them are boys.
Is it just me or is this weird? Granted, this is an EXTREMELY SMALL sampling of heart babies, but still... I can't help but wonder about this. I mean, blood types are determined at conception, right? Yes. And, according to a quick Google search, "one of the main factors which determine blood type is family genetics. A child receives separate sources of genetic code called alleles from each parent at the time of conception. One of the alleles located on chromosome 9 contains the precise blood type of the donor parent, and is classified as A, B, AB or O. An additional factor is called the Rhesus factor, which could be positive or negative. The actual blood type of a child is determined by the dominant blood type between the two parents..."
So obviously I'm not trying to get into a discussion how blood types are determined. I'm more interested in the simple fact that blood types are determined at conception. Before the heart begins to form. I don't know what role blood type plays in the grand scheme of things, but I can't help but find it totally ironic that so many of our precious little ones have the same blood type. Surely some big organization with lots of research funding is looking into things like this. I guess this is why raising money for CHD research is so important. I've been feeling led to do more to raise awareness but I'll save that for a later post.
Sorry if this was random or if it doesn't make a lot of sense. I've only slept for about 4 hours over the past 3 days, but that's totally for another post, too. ;)
As far as I can tell from the families that we've met throughout our journey so far, the majority of HLHS babies are male. The sad part is that the survival rates for male babies in NICUs as preemies or as full term babies with health conditions (setting aside the HLHS for a minute) is lowest for white males. This could be one indication why you hear more stories about girls with the condition. :(
ReplyDeleteNot to mess up your stats, but I answered your question, but our little Emma doesn't have HLHS but she does have a CHD + she is A+.
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