When the word came out that a sick baby was in need of a bone marrow transplant and no one in his family was a perfect match, students at Emily Carr Secondary School in Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada, decided to take action.

Amazingly, they put together a Stem Cell Transplant clinic at the school and invited their families, friends, and members of the community (healthy people between the ages of 17 and 35) to see if they would be a match.

Their efforts were on behalf of one-year-old boy named Austin who has chronic granulomatous disease, also known as Bridges-Good syndrome.

People with this inherited primary immunodeficiency disease are unable to fight off common germs, fungi, and infections. In the most serious cases, patients can develop puss-filled abscesses, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, and persistent diarrhea. Apart from a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, the condition can be managed with medication, but not cured.

The kind kids at Emily Carr Secondary School and Austin’s family are hoping that this outreach will produce a perfect match!

If you live in the Woodbridge area, give the school a call at 905-850-5012 to see if you are made of heroic stuff! There’s a little boy who would also like to find out if you can make all the difference in his life.