A three-month old baby boy named Boston De Castro from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is seeking a stem cell donor.

Boston suffers from a rare autoimmune disease called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, known as HLH for short. According to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, HLH is a life-threatening autoimmune condition in which the immune system’s T and NK cells become overactive, causing damaging inflammation to the body’s tissues and internal organs. The condition is especially damaging to the liver, brain and bone marrow, where blood is made.

Symptoms of HLH include persistent fevers, rash, enlarged liver and spleen, anemia, low platelets and white blood cells, jaundice, hepatitis, liver failure, respiratory issues, seizures, and altered mental functions. Patients need to undergo blood transfusions, stem cell therapy and a bone marrow transplant, in addition to taking various medications to calm the immune system, including steroids and chemotherapy.

Boston first started experiencing symptoms only a few weeks ago, when he developed a fever, and then his liver and spleen became enlarged. Shortly after, his blood counts started dropping rapidly. This is when he received a bone marrow biopsy, and was diagnosed with HLH. The three-month-old is currently undergoing his first round of chemotherapy while his parents desperately seek a stem cell donor that can save his life. The added challenge, however, is finding a matching stem cell donor that is of mixed ethnicity like him – half-Caucasian and half-Filipino.

His mother, Simone Janetta, spoke to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), saying, “We are just begging the community. Anybody who is half-Filipino [and] half-Caucasian, even if you’re any other ethnic minority, just get on the stem cell registry. You could safe a life, just like our son’s.”

Her plea was heard not only by the CBC, but by the Prime Minister of Canada himself, Justin Trudeau, who took to social media to share Boston’s story. “Can you save Boston’s life? There are two ways you can help: If you’re half-Caucasian and half-Filipino, please reach out to Canadian Blood Services and see how you can become a stem cell donor. If you aren’t you can still share this story and spread the word.” The post has received over 23,000 likes and 11,000 shares on Facebook already.

Donors must be between 17-35 years of age, with a preference for males, to reduce post-transplant complications. According to the Canadian Blood Services, only 3.5% of stem cell donors in the database are of mixed ethnic background. Because HLH is believed to be genetic, the donor must be unrelated to Boston as well.

Boston’s father, Rex De Castro, added, “I’m kindly begging anyone with a mixed-race ethnicity to donate their stem cells to help my son survive. The chemotherapy and the steroids [are] a temporary fix, and he needs the stem cell transplant really bad.”

A GoFundMe page has been setup for Boston, which has garnered over $25,000 in donations thus far. The donated funds will be used to relieve some of the monetary stress associated with the De Castro family having to live in hospital, and also, towards the bone marrow match. Many people have posted encouraging words on Boston’s GoFundMe page, urging him and his family to stay strong.

To learn more about HLH, check out this YouTube video by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. To read more about Boston De Castro’s story, check out his story on the CBC news website. And, if you know anyone who could potentially be a stem cell match for Boston or other mixed ethnicity patients, please consider sharing this story with them; you could save a life.