![\"Convicted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/P7DWIDDUL5PKLGAYG46WVHHSMQ.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Henry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/JIZWAD2CTJJJ3BR2CRKI7KWOAY.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen further symptoms appeared, including severe eczema and blood spots on his skin, he was offered blood tests.<\/p>\n
![\"Ellis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/F34ZEY532FNETDSVEOLJGX5TVM.jpg\")
Ellis Feldon, 10.5 months old, who has been diagnosed with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS), a genetic disorder that almost exclusively affects boys. His family are working with blood cancer charity DKMS to try and find him a stem cell donor <\/p>\n
After months of hospital appointments, Ellis was eventually diagnosed with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS), a genetic disorder that almost exclusively affects boys.<\/p>\n
The condition impacts the body\u2019s ability to fight infection, with symptoms including easy bruising, eczema, bloody diarrhoea, and prolonged bleeding following small bumps or scrapes.<\/p>\n
It is caused by errors written into a section of DNA on the X chromosome and impacts around three in every million boys worldwide.<\/p>\n
Mr Feldon said: \u201cIn normal circumstances, you\u2019d be able to really enjoy those first few months as first-time parents with your little baby, but Ellis has been ill since he was so small.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s frustrating to think that there could be someone walking around who is a perfect match for Ellis, but because it\u2019s an opt-in system, they can\u2019t be checked<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was back in hospital days after he was born, and things have only snowballed from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, we were told that the team was confident they would find a match for Ellis. We thought there would be plenty of options, given how many people are registered around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the news isn\u2019t as good as we had hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Feldon said the family have been told of just two potential options for Ellis, but one is not eligible to donate for more than a year and the other is only an 85% match.<\/p>\n
Medics have advised them not to delay the transplant, but going ahead with a less-than-perfect match puts him at risk of rejection and other complications.<\/p>\n
The family, who relocated from Guildford, Surrey, back to Caitlin\u2019s hometown of Chulmleigh to be closer to relatives, are now working with blood cancer charity DKMS to encourage people to sign up as stem cell donors.<\/p>\n
Anyone aged 16 to 55 can sign up by answering some health questions and completing a cheek swab using a free kit ordered on the DKMS website.<\/p>\n
Mr Feldon said: \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating to think that there could be someone walking around who is a perfect match for Ellis, but because it\u2019s an opt-in system, they can\u2019t be checked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to do everything we can to give him the best possible chance, but we also want to help make sure other families don\u2019t find themselves in this position.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t always realise how straightforward it is to sign up, or how easy the donation process is. You could be the person who gives a child like Ellis the chance to grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Feldon said the family wants to enjoy Ellis\u2019 milestones, but there is a \u201csadness in the background\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing so many lovely things. He loves watching Ms Rachel, he has six teeth, he\u2019s crawling at speed and he\u2019s taken his first few wobbly steps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to enjoy all of that, but there is always that sadness in the background. You want to be able to enjoy those milestones without worrying about what might happen next.\u201d<\/p>\n
A DKMS spokesperson said: \u201cFor Ellis and so many other patients, the right person signing up to the stem cell donor register could make all the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes just a few minutes to register, but if you are matched with someone in need, your donation could give them a future they might otherwise not have.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urgently need more people to come forward and join the register, helping to give Ellis and other patients diagnosed with blood cancers and disorders the best possible chance of finding a suitable donor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The parents of a baby boy diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening blood disorder have issued a plea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[286500,286501,103,61,60,34939,1577,286502],"class_list":["post-676320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-dkms","tag-ellis-feldon","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pa-exclusive","tag-uk","tag-wiskott-aldrich-syndrome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}