“We’re fighting for our baby and he’s fighting for his life.”
Excerpt from CBC.ca
Lia Weekes, a respected Richmond Hospital Social Worker, and her husband, Dagan, received the worst news possible in February. Their son, Joshua, 6, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia.
Joshua needs a need a bone marrow transplant within the next three months to treat his cancer.
“It’s a complete nightmare. Everything was normal and then everything changed,” Weekes told CBC this week, her voice cracking. “And now we’re fighting for our baby, and he’s fighting for his life.”
Joshua has started his chemotherapy treatment, but will eventually need a bone marrow transplant within the next three months.
“We were told by the physicians that finding a match will be a little more challenging because of Joshua’s mixed ethnicity,” Weekes told CBC this week.
Weekes is of Filipino and British origins while her husband has an Icelandic and Caribbean background. While Joshua’s parents haven’t been ruled out as potential matches, Weekes says the physicians say Joshua’s chances are better with an external donor.
“So we basically want to appeal to anyone who has any of those combinations or any of those backgrounds to come forward as a donor and register.”
Weekes says any person of similar racial background as Joshua is more likely to be a match.
Weekes says her son just wants to come home, but he still manages to smile at his parents while receiving treatment.
“He understands he has some bad cells that we need to get out. He knows he needs to be strong and brave, because it can be very scary to have all these strangers poking at you and all of these beeps and alarms,” she said.
“But he can’t understand why Mummy and Daddy can’t just fix it.”
Joshua needs your help now
Information regarding joining the stem cell/bone marrow registry can be found on the Canadian Blood Services website at https://www.blood.ca/en/stem-cell/register-onematch.
Most people will never be called but, if you are, you could save a life somewhere in the world.