BETHESDA, MARYLAND – He captured the heart of many as his mother desperately searched for a bone marrow donor.
Eight-year-old Noel Young suffers from CBD, a rare blood disease that is more aggressive than doctors in Alberta can handle.
People with CGD often only live to early adulthood, suffering with many health problems throughout their short lives.
Since he was just four years old, Noel has suffered through countless infections, endured multiple surgeries and long hospital stays.
When Anne Robilliard, Noel’s mother, was told a bone marrow transplant was his only hope and a match could not be found, it sparked a year-long desperate search to give the little boy a chance at life.
Anne began pleading for people to join the bone marrow registry and clinics to join the registry were held all across Alberta.
Finally, in March of this year, Anne got the call she had been waiting for.
“They said Anne, we have a perfect 10/10 match and it’s a young male, 21-years-old. I don’t know where they’re from but that is the ultimate gift we could ever have.”
That struggle could now soon come to an end as Noel prepares to receive the bone marrow transplant he so desperately needs.
Following a whirlwind month to prepare, Anne and Noel have moved to Maryland where they will spend the next several months.
Noel will receive the transplant this week at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.