MIA Africano was still in the womb when a common virus
threatened to stop her bone marrow producing red blood cells.
Doctors warned her parents that if they did not act, she might
not survive. The warning sign was a red rash on elder sister
Monique's cheek, which doctors diagnosed as the common childhood
illness parvovirus, also known as ''slapped cheek disease''. The
virus usually causes only mild illness for pre-school-aged
children but can be dangerous for unborn babies, in rare cases
causing severe anaemia that can cause their tiny hearts to fail.
Carmel Africano was 26 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed
with parvovirus, and intense monitoring over the next few weeks
showed the velocity of blood through Mia's brain was speeding
up. That meant the baby's blood was thinning and she was
becoming anaemic. At 33 weeks doctors advised a foetal blood
transfusion - a delicate procedure performed by the Royal
Women's Hospital only about a dozen times a year. Specialist
doctors inject donor blood into the umbili