The Star E-dition

Baby Mack desperate for a donor match

TANYA WATERWORTH tanya.waterworth@inl.co.za

Five-month-old Mackenzie Friedman was diagnosed with leukaemia a month ago and is fighting for her life in hospital.

She desperately needs to find a donor match for a stem cell transplant and her family has made an urgent appeal to people around the country to register as potential donors one match could save her life.

The baby girl with the cutest smile has become widely known as “Mighty Mack” on social media. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia a month ago and requires regular blood and platelet transfusions in between her chemotherapy treatments.

This week Mackenzie’s aunt, Amy Stanton spoke to the Independent Media about the family’s urgent campaign to save little Mackenzie’s life.

Her sister, Megan Harrington-johnson, is Mackenzie’s mother.

A sudden spike in temperature when she was four months old led to Mackenzie being referred for blood tests, and her parents being told that their new baby daughter had a life-threatening blood disorder.

Stanton said: “It has been such a roller-coaster since then. Last week we almost lost her to organ failure and she was in the intensive care unit for a couple of days. This week she’s been battling an infection, but my sister said she’d had a good night’s sleep (on Wednesday night).

“Mack is a very smiley and alert baby and my sister’s biggest challenge at the moment is keeping her entertained while she’s in hospital.”

For more information to register as a blood stem cell donor, go to www. dkms-africa.org or call 080012 10 82 (weekdays 8.30am – 4.30pm)

Metro

en-za

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/281642488115319

African News Agency