Alberta toddler battling cancer needs stem cell donation
Posted Jul 23, 2022 11:55 am.
Last Updated Jul 23, 2022 3:18 pm.
A toddler in Alberta with cancer is in desperate need of a stem cell donation, and calls are growing for people to help.
Two-year-old Ezra Marfo is battling acute myelogenous leukemia and desperately needs a stem cell transplant.
Ezra was born in June 2020 in a small Alberta town and has been at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton and the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary for more than a year.
In a social media post, Canadian Blood Services notes Ezra’s cancer is difficult to treat. The child’s situation has been compilated further because stem cells that will work for him are a lot harder to find.
“Unfortunately, with very few Black Africans on the donor list, no complete match has been found for him,” the organization’s Instagram post reads, in part, adding less than one per cent of the Canadian Blood Services’ Stem Cell Registry is made up of people of African descent.
It goes on to note that Ezra’s dad was found to be a partial match and became a donor in September 2021. However, after multiple rounds of chemo, radiation, and other treatments, the organization says Ezra has relapsed and needs another transplant.
“His condition is getting worse by the day and your help is needed to save him,” Canadian Blood Services says.
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Meanwhile, another Calgary family is hoping to spread the word, as Ezra’s situation hits close to home.
Joshua Symons, whose baby went through the same thing, says his family saw Ezra’s story and felt the need to do something.
“We told them that we were going to try to help in any way that we can. You know, even just to get the message to donate because you know it saved my son’s life and countless kids’ lives that I already know,” said Symons.
“Not just stem cells but blood products saved my son’s life platelets, transfusions, there’s a lot of power of what you have in your body and there’s a lot of power donating that to someone else,” he added.
You can go to Canadian Blood Services website to learn more about how you can help.
