Miles, searching patient, with his mother, Radasha
Miles Anthony Cook is the air that his family breathes. A social butterfly who simply adores his big brother, Miles has a smile and spirit that energizes everyone around him. Unfortunately, when it comes to his own body’s energy source, he’s in dangerously low supply.
Low on energy—and time
After Miles was born weighing less than five pounds, doctors said everything was fine, but his mother, Radasha, wasn’t convinced. She sought out a second opinion and discovered the tragic truth: Miles only had 1% blood in his body.
He was diagnosed with Pearson syndrome, a rare genetic disease affecting mitochondria, the part of our cells that generates energy to perform many vital functions. In time, Miles’ organs will begin to shut down. He currently receives blood transfusions and takes pancreatic enzymes to help digest food.
The disorder is so rare that only 150 cases in the world have been reported to date.
Miles is still searching for his blood stem cell donor
A transplant could save Miles
A blood stem cell transplant from a matching donor is Miles’ best hope at surviving and thriving long-term. Unfortunately, no suitable donor match was found in his immediate family—and they haven’t found one yet on the Be The Match Registry®, either.
(Patients are most likely to match a donor of their own ethnic background. However, the odds of finding a matching, available donor on the registry is just 29% for Black and African American patients, compared to 79% for White patients.)
Despite the odds, we firmly believe a match for Miles is out there. We believe this because we’ve seen it happen, over and over again—patients finding their donor after months, or even years, of searching.
Uniting to ignite hope
As a global leader in connecting patients to donors for a potentially life-saving blood stem cell transplant, we work tirelessly to help patients like Miles. Last year alone, we facilitated more than 7,000 transplants. And behind every transplant is a community of supporters who played a pivotal role in making these second chances possible.
We couldn’t do it without them—and you can join us.
By making a gift today, you can help patients like Miles get closer to finding a matching donor. All funds go directly to programs critical to the mission, such as:
- Covering the costs needed to add potential donors to the registry
- Alleviating financial hardship by providing patient assistance grants to cover uninsured costs like temporary housing and meals during transplant and recovery
- Funding groundbreaking transplant research that helps more patients live longer, healthier lives
Double the impact
You can even double your impact, simply by giving today. All gifts will be matched dollar for dollar (up to $100K) through the end of September.
This matching campaign is made possible by the incredible generosity of National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP)/Be The Match® board members Anne McGeorge and Dr. Elizabeth Shpall.
Miles’ family would like to thank you in advance for all you are doing to help find his life-saving blood stem cell donor. Together, we can defeat blood cancers and other life-threatening disorders.
