Unstoppable Testimonies

Hello! I’m Cassià and I’m 14 years old. When I was only 6 months old, I was admitted for what seemed to be a very severe meningitis. But it turned out to be something even more complicated, severe combined immunodeficiency, a very rare disease that affects 1 in 500,000 babies.

Spending so much time in the hospital, my mother learned so much about my illness that she became an expert. She knew that the chances of a child with this disorder dying from any infection are exceedingly high. That’s why it was important to find a compatible bone marrow donor very quickly.

The Josep Carreras Foundation, through the Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDMO), located an umbilical cord unit from an American donor and was able to perform the transplant. I had to spend a long time in an isolation chamber in the hospital where I could only be accompanied by one person. I had to undergo check-ups every 15 days, as the umbilical cord cells inside my body were struggling to get the lymphocytes to work.

At the moment I’m still undergoing check-ups, but I’m doing great, that transplant gave me another chance and thanks to it I can do what I love the most, creating music.

Cassià