Could you save Te Waarakihi’s life?
A Rotorua family is appealing for support from Pasifika and Māori communities, in the hope a stranger could be the genetic match that saves their nine-year-old’s life.
At the beginning of 2024 Te Waarakihi Felise was into anything and everything – from motorbike riding and sports, to cooking and hanging out at home with his Mum, Nanny and Poppa.
Now he is in Starship Hospital battling a life-threatening blood condition.
The family first noticed a change in Te Waarakihi in early February. “It was really dramatic,” recalls his nanny Mahara Hooper. “He was getting really breathless and he wasn't interested in doing anything physical, including going to school.”
Other symptoms like nose bleeds, strange bruising and skin rashes followed until, on 18 February, he was admitted to Rotorua hospital.
The same day he was flown to Starship where he was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a life-threatening condition where the body stops producing red and white cells and platelets.
Life-saving treatment needed
Currently Te Waarakihi is undergoing immunosuppressive therapy to control his condition. But to save his life, he needs a bone marrow transplant, using healthy stem cells from a donor.
Donating cells is a simple procedure, but crucially the donor must be the right genetic match to the patient.
Unfortunately none of Te Waarakihi’s family members matched and, in a further blow, there was no match amongst potential donors on the New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry.
Now the whānau is appealing to adults aged 18- 35 to join the registry and find out if they could be Te Waarakihi’s match.
Because he is of Tokelauan and Māori heritage, that match is most likely to be a person of Pasifika and/or Māori descent.
Donating is an amazing opportunity to save a life
Mahara says, “This is an appeal for our Māori and Pasifika communities to come forward and make contact with us and please consider donating to help this little boy or other children in a similar condition.
“You could save a life. It's a pretty amazing thing to be able to do.”
Joining the registry is simple and requires a single blood donation at a New Zealand Blood Service donation centre.
If there’s no blood donation centre near you, call the NZBMDR on 0800 800 256.