Boston George De Castro, at the tender age of three months, is already fighting a life-threatening battle against the rare immune disease: Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). In hopes of saving his life, his family is looking for a donor that is of mixed ethnicity just like him – someone half-Caucasian and half-Filipino.
“We are just begging the community. Anybody who is half-Filipino [and] half-Caucasian, even if you’re any other ethnic minority, just get on the stem cell registry. You could save a life, just like our son’s,” Simone Janetta was quoted as saying in a report by CBC.
Baby Boston also has a GoFundMe page that not only aims for “monetary relief” but hopes to find a Bone Marrow match.
“If you are between the ages of 17-35, and especially if you are of mixed race, please consider being put on the donor list for stem cells. Stem cells are based on ethnicity, so mixed people are underrepresented for possible matches. Sometimes less than 1% chance of finding a match, just due to low donors of mixed race,” the fundraiser read.
Baby Boston was diagnosed by HLH after a bone marrow biopsy. His family said that the chemotherapy cycle and the steroids treatment have made significant improvements in his health.
In the same CBC article, however, Rex De Castro, Baby Boston’s father emphasized that “the chemotherapy and the steroids is a temporary fix, and he needs the stem cell transplant really bad.”
“I’m kindly begging anyone with a mixed-race ethnicity to donate their stem cells … to help my son survive,” he said.
This quest for a match has reached Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who also shared on social media Baby Boston’s story.
“If you’re half-Caucasian and half-Filipino, please reach out to Canadian Blood Services and see how you can become a stem cell donor,” Trudeau wrote, then encouraging others to spread the word.
Click the link to see if you would be a match for Boston http://www.blood.ca/Match4Boston for US or international register at bethematch.org