A POORLY lad is seeking ’a Superhero’ to provide a lifesaving bone marrow transplant.
Olcán Wilkes, who moved to Northern Ireland from the Newent area last summer, had to spend his seventh birthday in a Belfast hospital a few days ago.
But the brave boy joked in a film appealing for a donor this week that his bone marrow "needs a kick in the butt!"
The youngster’s spirits and learning are being kept up by teachers and classmates at his old St Joseph’s RC School in Ross-on-Wye via a classroom robot.
The ’BubbleBuster’ learning device - a small, friendly home-controlled desktop robot - follows the teacher and class around, allowing Olcán to continue with his treatment without missing out on his classes and interaction with friends.
He fell ill with the life-threatening condition shortly after arriving in County Antrim in July, when mum Genevieve realised he was covered in huge bruises after attending a football camp.
In September doctors diagnosed a two in a million blood disorder called aplastic anaemia.
And on top of that, medics found evidence of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) in Olcán’s blood, another rare blood disease which can be caused by aplastic anaemia, leading blood cells to break apart.
Sadly, further tests discovered that Olcán is a rare tissue type, making it harder to find a donor.
In his film appealing for a donor, he said: "Hi, my name is Olcan and I turned seven last week and I found out that I was very sick and I’ve got aplastic anaemia.
"It’s when your bone marrow isn’t working. It’s very rare and only two in a million get aplastic anaemia. My bone marrow has gone to sleep and it needs a kick up the butt.
"Doctors tell me that I need a Superhero to give me some of their bone marrow and can you be my Superhero?"
As he waits to find a match, Olcán has to undergo two to three blood platelet transfusions a week to fight infection.
Dad Sam, a farmer and former firefighter, is still living in Newent owing to work commitments and flies to rejoin the family, which includes Olcán’s four-year-old brother Hunter, every weekend.
He outlined their harrowing situation, saying: "We were crushed to find out Olcán is a rare tissue type.
"He falls into the small percentage with no match. Hunter wasn’t a match and not one match on the 38 million global register...
"We have now been informed that past patients with similar diagnosis haven’t lived past nine months if they haven’t received a marrow transplant.
"In the meantime he continues to have two to three platelets transfusions a week and blood transfusions every two to three weeks. At the moment his survival depends on these transfusions...
"If there is a chance that you or someone you know is a match, you could save his life or someone like him."
Wife Genevieve, a senior project manager in the healthcare sector, said: "Nothing could have prepared us for the devastation that would ensue.
"My little boy has gone from being happy and energetic to be being too tired to get out of bed or do anything.
"He hasn’t been able to even start school or make new friends and having just moved here, most of his older friends are back in England."
She said they had planned a trip to the planetarium for his birthday on November 24, but he was admitted to hospital just before when his condition worsened.
For more information, go to the ’Stem Cell Donor for Olcán’ Facebook page and www.instagram.com/theincredibleolc/
To take a free swab as part of the global donor initiative to see whether you have what it takes to be Olcán’s ’Superhero’, go to worldmarrowdonorday.org/become-a-donor/