Boy From Bootle Needs Donor For Christmas
A 9 year old boy from Liverpool's told Radio City News all he wants for Christmas is a donor to help save his life.
A 9 year old boy from Liverpool's told Radio City News all he wants for Christmas is a donor to help save his life.
At just two years old, Kieron Fairclough, from Bootle, was diagnosed with a rare and serious condition called Diamond Blackfan Anaemia (DBA) which means his bone marrow doesn’t produce enough blood cells.
Kieron relies heavily on blood transfusions and medicines to keep him stable, but the only hope of a long-term cure is a stem cell transplant to replace his damaged bone marrow with new, healthy cells. Doctors have told her that he will need to find a stranger to donate their stem cells, because his sister Kloe, 11, is not a match.
His mum Ashley, 29, said: 'We hadn’t even considered the possibility that Kloe wouldn’t be a match so it was a real shock. We hadn’t known at the time that only a third of patients like Kieron find a match in their families and the majority rely on Anthony Nolan to find them a donor.
'Kloe was really disappointed. I told her while we were both doing the washing up, and she just said, "but I really wanted to be his match". I was so impressed by her maturity. Now she wants to sign up to the adult donor register as soon as she’s 16.'
'It's amazing that something that easy could save my son's life.'
The charity is now searching its register of potential stem cell donors for someone whose tissue type matches Kieron’s. The family want to encourage as many people aged 16-30 to sign up and give people like Kieron a second chance of life.
'Since all this happened, I’d never even thought about stem cell donation but now I’ve realised how many myths there are. People think it’s really painful but it’s not at all; it’s actually more like giving blood, and all you have to do to sign up is spit into a tube. It’s amazing that something that easy could save my son’s life.'
This isn’t the first time Kieron has fought for his life. Before his diagnosis, Ashley and Kieron’s dad Graham were deeply concerned that Kieron wasn’t crawling, talking or gaining weight, and was getting persistent nosebleeds.
'I kept saying to doctors that he wasn’t well, but they just brushed it off. Eventually I took him to A&E and refused to leave – he was grey and floppy and I was holding him like a baby.
'A blood doctor in the hospital took one look at him and knew he was seriously ill, and we quickly had the diagnosis of DBA. By the next morning, he was having a blood transfusion.
“When he became stable, I thanked the doctor and said that I’d been convinced I was about to lose Kieron. The doctor simply said, "You were". And I realised how close we’d come to that.'
Kieron is now maintaining a normal childhood despite his constant medical appointments and rigorous treatment.
'In spite of everything, Kieron is such a happy and brave boy. He comes over to me and says "I love you, Mum, I had a great day at school". He’s got loads of mates and his favourite subject is maths - he’s brilliant with numbers. He’s also a proper little gamer and is obsessed with playing on the XBox.'