Brave Dylan battles rare blood disorder as call goes out for lifesaving donor who could help Co Antrim boy
A call for lifesaving donors has gone out to help a brave Co Antrim boy battling a rare blood disorder that has already forced him to endure 80 transfusions in just eight months.
Aged just nine, Dylan Hume has been fighting against aplastic anaemia since last summer, and is regularly confined to a hospital bed.
The serious condition means his body is not producing enough new blood cells, leaving him fatigued and prone to infections and uncontrolled bleeding.
Dylan urgently needs a stem cell transplant, but his family have been devastated by news that none of them are a match. Now, parents Claire and Ross hope that an unrelated person may prove to be the donor their beloved boy needs, and that a massive registration event running in tandem with charity DKMS may uncover the saviour they need,
Glengormley Integrated Primary School hosts the donor registration drive on Saturday April 8, and a simple cheek swab is all that’s needed to add anyone to the list.
Claire says Dylan’s diagnosis has been “a huge blow” to a tight family unit, stating: “Dylan’s older sister, Nicole, is 11 and has just started secondary school. Nicole loves him so much and really misses him when he’s not around, she’s so delighted when she gets to see him.”
Usually a fun, happy, energetic and hilarious little boy, before he became ill last year Dylan loved playing football at St Mary’s FC in Glengormley, where his dad Ross is a coach. He also loves video games, and one small “silver lining” from his long hospital stays has been the amount of time he’s been able to dedicate to playing Xbox with his friends.
Adds Claire: “Unfortunately Dylan's diagnosis of aplastic anaemia is classed as “very severe” and he has been admitted to hospital numerous times with recurrent infections and need for medical support.
"Dylan had missed out on enjoying his summer holidays and wasn't able to start back to school in September. We are patiently waiting on a bone marrow match to allow him to become the boy he was before his diagnosis.”
With Claire and Ross spending so much of their time beside Dylan’s hospital bed, the donor registration drive has mainly been organised by family friend Zarrene Hunter, who as a child attended Glengormley Primary with the Humes and grew up on the same street as Claire.
She says the family first noticed something was up with Dylan when he slept through “iPad time”, when he’s normally eager to get to grips with the tablet computer.
"They went to the GP, who told them to take him to hospital for a check-up,” Zarrene told the News Letter. “They weren’t expecting anything serious, he wasn’t in a bad way, but then the blood results came back.
"Dylan went downhill very quickly, and he’s been in and out of hospital since. He’s had 80 blood transfusions because of this.
"Claire and Ross have been by his side throughout, and still are; it’s impossible to imagine what they’re going through. We wanted to arrange the donor registration drive to give them whatever help we can.”
The donor drive runs from 10am to 3pm on April 5. People aged 17 to 55 and in general good health are eligible to join the worldwide DKMS donor register.