Winnipeg family desperate for ethnically diverse stem cell donor to save 3-month-old boy

A three-month-old boy in Winnipeg is going through his first round of chemotherapywhile his family searches for a stem cell donor that could help save his life.

Boston De Castro has a rare immune disease called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH.To make matters more complicated, the best chance of a matching stem cell donor being found for Boston, is finding someone of mixed ethnicity like him 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," said motherSimone Janetta.

Part of the criteria that matches two people's stem cells is understood to be inherited, which iswhy Boston's family is looking to getmore ethnically diverse people into the Canadian Blood Services stem cell registry.

Donors are currentlyrequired to be between the ages of 17-35, with a preference for male donors, in order to reduce post-transplant complications.

According to Sarah Jasmine of the Canadian Blood Services, about 66 per centof thestem cell database is Caucasian and only about 3.5 per cent is of mixed ethnic background.

"Anybody that joins the registry is providing hope to patients like Boston, who are just desperately searching for that match," she said.

"Knowing that you might have been the only person in the world that could have matched that patient that's a huge thing to be proud of."

Boston's symptoms started with a fever a couple of weeks ago, thenhis liver and spleen enlarged and his blood counts dropped shortly after. After a bone marrow biopsy, doctors diagnosed him withHLH.

His chemotherapy and a steroid treatment have madehuge improvements in hishealth, family says.

"Last week he was basically dying and if it weren't for the blood, the platelets, the chemo and the steroids, it would have been really bad," said father Rex De Castro.

The family hopes they can take Boston home this week to continue his treatment there, and be near his 2-year-old sister, Beatrix.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help both parents while they wait to find a matching stem cell donor.

"I'm kindly begging anyone with a mixed-race ethnicity to donate their stem cells to help my son survive. The chemotherapy and the steroids is a temporary fix, and he needs the stem cell transplant really bad," said Rex De Castro.

WATCH | Stem cell donor needed to save 3-month-old boy:

Stem cell donor needed to save 3-month-old boy

4 years ago

Duration 2:09

Boston De Castro has a rare immune disease called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH. To make matters more complicated, the best chance of a matching stem cell donor being found for Boston, is finding someone of mixed ethnicity like him half-Caucasian and half-Filipino.