Michael DeMasi Jr. from Philadelphia is only 4 years old, but he's already to take on a giant needle.
“Yeah, it’s a big, giant needle,” he told local media.
Michael is donating his bone marrow to this town brothers, born with a rare autoimmune disease. The twins, Santino and Giovanni, were born with a rare hereditary immune disease called Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD).
“I want to help them,” he said. “I’m not scared.”
His parents, Robin and Michael, said that they consider their second son to be “a superhero. He is our courageous boy.”
Robin is a carrier fot the CGD gene, something they found out when their eldest son, 9-year-old Dominick, was diagnosed with the same disease at birth.
Dominick spent his first year in a hospital, until an umbilical chord donation from a stranger gave him the stem cell donation he needed to live a normal life.
According to Robin, CGD, is similar to "bubble-boy syndrome".
"If we don’t do a transplant, they can get very sick from a small infection," she explained. "A cut can be fatal.”
While Michael was born healthy, the twins, who were born in October, weren't as lucky. Since November, they stayed in the local Children’s Hospital. All visitors have to wear masks, and Robin sleeps in a cot beside the bed.
“I have to sneak them kisses,” she confessed.
Despite the success of the umbilical transplant, a sibling match is a lot better for the twins. Michael was tested and was luckily a match for both twins.
After his parents explained to him what would happen, Michael was eager to help his brothers.
The twins will be given chemotherapy to wipe out their immune system before the transplant can take place. Michael should be out of hospital in a day, with the twins expected to return home by the end of April.
“I'm so grateful for all the support we've received,” Robin said. The family also have a GoFundMe page for the operation.
Little Michael Jnr. definitely wins the award for best big brother!
