PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — A Philadelphia 4-year-old is being called a “superhero” after he was a match to donate life-saving bone marrow to his twin baby brothers.
Michael Pownall’s 4-month-old twin brothers, Santino and Giovanni, have chronic granulomatous disease, which is diagnosed in one in 500,000 people every year.
He will undergo the transplant to save his brothers in two weeks, WTXF reports.
“He’s just like ‘I’m a real-life superhero.’ He says ‘I’m going to save my baby brothers,’” their mother Robin Pownall told WTXF.
AMAZING! Michael is donating bone marrow to his 4-month-old twin brothers Since Michael and his family appeared on #FOX29GoodDay this morning, their GoFundMe has raised $10,000! How you can help: https://t.co/KmBUgiK3jd pic.twitter.com/bPpayqB9ZB
— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) February 23, 2018
“He goes to the doctor when he gets the labs for the pre-testing and he says ‘Look how strong I am’ and he gives them willingly his arm to get blood work,” their mother said.
“The nurses are amazed. They’re like ‘I cannot believe how brave he is’ and he really is. It gives me chills.”
Santino and Giovanni have been at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia since they were born in October.
They haven’t been able to leave because the boys could be exposed to a pathogen outside of the hospital.
Michael’s older brother, Dominick, was also born with CGD, but received a stem donation from an outside donor. Michael doesn’t have the disease.
When doctors determined Michael was a match for both his brothers, he was ready to go.
The parents said they never forced him to make the decision.
Pownall and her fiance have had to quit their jobs to spend time at the hospital with the twins. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help them with medical bills.
The surgery takes place on March 8th.
