Seventeen-year-old Archer Franklin had just come home from a school canoe trip when his mom Karri noticed small bruises all over his body.
On June 1, Archer was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, also known as bone marrow aplasia. He has been in the Saskatoon Royal University Hospital ever since.
“It’s a rare condition and it can be caused by a genetic concern or just an idiopathic concern, which is Archer’s,” Karri said.
Doctors believe Archer’s immune system suddenly spiked in activity and attacked his bone marrow, rendering it useless. The disease creates a lack of normal blood cell production in the body.
“He’s not getting what he needs in his blood,” Karri explained.
Archer is currently undergoing blood transfusions and will be starting drug therapy this week – it’ll be a stagnant summer in comparison to his otherwise active lifestyle. An avid hockey player, Archer usually spends the summer months at hockey camps, in the gym or rollerblading.
The only long-term cure for Archer’s condition is a bone marrow transplant.
“He has a half match in his brother,” Karri said, “but the best they can hope for is a full match.”
According to Canadian Blood Services, only 25 per cent of patients find a full match within their families. Saskatoon doctors checked the hospitals registry, but there was no full match for Archer.
Verna Chow with Canadian Blood Services says there is no risk to the donor when donating stem cells.
“What the stem cells go on to do is become, replenish, or replace unhealthy cells that are in the other person,” Chow explained. “It’s similar to donating a heart or a lung, they are actually getting transplanted.”
Chow said only 50 per cent of patients overall find a match.
“The reason it is so difficult is because we have to match with genetics, it’s not just blood type,” Chow said. “The likelihood of a match is only one out of 900. It’s like winning the lottery.”
Chow said that her goal through Canadian Blood Services is to have 3,600 individuals swab to become a donor, which would likely only result in about four matches with patients.
“It puts into perspective how many people we need to join the registry to find matches,” said Chow.
She said about 1,000 patients in Canada are currently waiting for a match.
For now, Archer will head into drug therapy sessions and hopefully return home soon to wait for a match.
“There are so many children and people waiting for a match that everyone who signs up, not just for him, could be for someone else,” Kerri said, encouraging people to become donors.
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