ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — For over a decade, a St. Pete mom has been searching for a donor match for her son, who has a rare blood disorder. After years of being in and out of the hospital, the Grant family finally has a match, but now, another set of obstacles stands in their way.
We first met King Grant when he was 11 as he danced through the pain of living with CGD.
Five years later, his illness is taking its toll.
“Taking pain meds, taking a lot of different types of meds, because I have CGD, it gets tiring every day,” King explained.
King can’t play baseball, his favorite sport, or even go to school.
“Just seeing him change a lot because of his illness, not being able to be around his friends, not being able to play, do things that he liked to do outside, it's just it's been a lot,” Latasha Grant added.
But more than a decade later, Latasha Gran said they’ve finally found a 9/10 match.
“The bone marrow transplant would be like our last hope,” Grant said.
Except now, Grant said they’ll have to move to Maryland for several months to get the procedure at a well-equipped hospital, putting yet another financial burden on their back.
"Honestly, it's like, I can't really be as happy as I want to be... because we don't know if it's going to be successful if we don't have the finances," Grant added.
You could feel that same worry in King's presence, overshadowing the news that he has a match.
“I don't know if this will work. So, I'm not going to be too overly excited about it,” King said.
Grant said she’s praying all the pieces fall into place so they can afford to go through with the transplant and that King can have a future to look forward to.
“I just want us to be able to live as a family, me and my kids, and do it without struggle, do it with everybody being healthy... This whole process is very important for us,” Grant explained.
Grant said they’ve had to wait so long for a transplant because bone marrow matches for African Americans are low.
The Grant family has created a GoFundMe for the transplant.
