Qasim Rizwan, from Bolton, needed every unit of rare blood available to him in the country after he was diagnosed with autoimmune haemolytic anemia (AIHA). Doctors initially struggled to determine his blood type, but scientists discovered he was a rare mixture including r’r’, a subtype of the Rh system that is found in about one in 10,000 people. Only about 50 blood donors are classified as r’r’. Qasim, now nine, visited NHSBT’s national frozen blood bank in Liverpool in August with his father Rizwan Ahmed, 46, and brother Yusuf, to thank staff for their help (NHSBT/PA)