Family pleads for stem cell donors of African descent to help save their two-year old son
CTV
Jacob’s two-year old son, Ezra Marfo, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in May 2021. Just after his second birthday in July, the family was told the cancer was spreading. After what Jacob said is too many cancer treatments to count, now Ezra needs a stem cell donation.
Jacob Marfo is asking Edmontonians to give ten minutes of their time, and a little bit of saliva, to potentially save his son’s life.
Jacob’s two-year old son, Ezra Marfo, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in May 2021. Just after his second birthday in July, the family was told the cancer was spreading. After what Jacob said is too many cancer treatments to count, now Ezra needs a stem cell donation.
The problem is, there just aren’t enough donors that match Ezra’s origin.
“Ezra is of African descent, and so unfortunately, in Canada’s stem cell registry, less than one per cent of people who join the registry are of African descent,” said Adrienne Sanuan, community development manager for the stem cell program at Canadian Blood Services.
“So it makes it a lot more difficult for people who share Ezra’s ethnicity to find a match for a transplant.”
Sanjuan said that only 33 per cent of the stem cell registry consists of ethnically diverse individuals, which is not a proportionate representation of the diversity within the Canadian population.
