Mixed Match Needed for Six-Year-Old Boy from British Columbia Battling Leukemia

Mixed Match Needed for Six-Year-Old Boy from British Columbia Battling Leukemia

By Director Jeff Chiba Stearns

Six-year-old Joshua was recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and is in desperate need to find a bone marrow donor. Joshua’s search is complicated by the fact that he is of Filipino, English, Icelandic and West Indian ethnicity and is looking for a donor with similar genetics.

Joshua and his family are from Richmond, British Columbia. This really hits home because live in Vancouver and know people who are friends with his family. Because of this, I’ve been connected with Lia Weekes, Joshua’s mom via Facebook. From all that I’ve learned over the course of six years filming Mixed Match and speaking to some of the top stem cell transplant specialists and doctors in the world, I’ve let Lia know that I’d be more than happy to talk with her and share what I’ve learned.

As well, we’ve offered to help by setting up bone marrow drives in Vancouver with the help of Hapa-palooza and HAPA Society which I helped co-found. Both Hapa-palooa and HAPA Society are focused on issues involving mixed heritage.

Hapa-palooza has taken to social media to help share Joshua’s story and encourage more people to join their national registries with hopes that a match can be found soon. We also encourage parents to donate their baby’s cord blood to their national cord blood bank if the opportunity is available.

Please visit our JOIN A REGISTRY page to find out info on your country’s stem cell registry. Thanks you.