6-Year-Old Boy From Butler County In Fight For His Life Searches For Bone Marrow Match
ZELIENOPLE, Pa. (KDKA) -- A 6-year-old boy from Zelienople is in the fight of his life while his parents are in a race against time to find him a bone marrow match.
Jax Ramirez's condition is considered extremely rare and events to help find a bone marrow match for him are spreading across the region.
"Jax was admitted to the PICU and he began fighting for his life," Missy Ramirez, Jax's mother, told KDKA.
Jax Ramirez is a bubbly, happy boy despite living in a bubble since being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2017 and recently IPEX, an extremely rare genetic disorder affecting one in 1.5 million people.
"Jax had quite a few blips on the road, and he was hospitalized multiples times in the PICU for sometimes up to 14 to 17 days," Missy Ramirez said.
Because of flu season and COVID-19, the family has had to protect the 6-year-old boy from the outside world.
"COVID has me afraid for my son because he did not react to the flu and he was intubated for seven days in an induced coma with the flu. So I can't imagine what COVID would do," the boy's mom said.
While Jax Ramirez's medical team must wait until after flu season, they can't wait much longer to find him a life-saving bone marrow donor.
Test swabbing events were held on Tuesday at Duquesne University.
"We are pretty much scouring the Earth to fond somebody. We have been lucky to find some lovely, lovely people in Mexico and they're rallying for Jax because of his Mexican descent," Missy Ramirez said.
If you want to try and be the match for Jax Ramirez, you can text "JAX" to 61474 or click here.
