A Nova Scotia toddler in desperate need of a stem cell donor has finally found her match.
Twenty-two-month-old Reese Hawkins of Pictou County has been searching for a donor since her leukemia relapsed in January.
No one in Hawkins' family is a match and it can take six months to find a donor who is not related to the patient, but after almost two months, her family received word a donor has been found.
"We're just so happy," says the girl's mother, Kora Hanrahan. "And we know we have more hurdles ahead, but we're going to take them one at a time, and we're happy to have this one in the rearview mirror."
Hawkins' doctor says the closer the match, the better the chances of a successful transplant.
"It's like two barcodes," explains Dr. Bruce Crooks. "She has her barcode, like you'd get on a can of beans or tomato soup, and the donor has their code."
Hawkins' donor happens to be a perfect match, but Crooks says she still has a long way to go.
"She's got a lot of investigations and workups to make sure that all her vital organs and functions are OK before she goes, so that's a lot of tests," he says.
The next step in Hawkins' journey is to send her to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. If all goes well, she will receive her stem cell transplant in the first week of April.
Meanwhile, her family is trying to raise awareness for the hundreds of other donors who are still waiting for a match.
Hanrahan says people who want to help should consider joining One Match, which is the Canadian Blood Services' database of potential stem cell donors.
"When something bad happens you always try to find a reason why it happened, and I kind of made peace with the fact that maybe that this is why Reese's journey has to be like this," she says. "She's destined to help other people."
As for the donor, Hawkins' family has no idea who is helping little Reese, and they may never find out.
"I'd love to know!" says Hanrahan. "And I would drive to that person's house and give them the biggest hug and thank them so much because…it's a miracle for us."
While she is grateful for her family's miracle, she wants to spread the news that there are nearly 1,000 people just like Reese, still waiting for their own miracle.
So, you want to be a donor?
For those interested in becoming a donor, it's a procedure similar to donating blood. Anyone who is in good health and between the ages of 17 and 50 can apply to be a donor, but right now there is an urgent need for males between the ages of 17 and 35, particularly those of an ethnic background.
Learn more at onematch.ca