BOSTON -- A five-month-old boy is fighting for his life at Children's Hospital in Boston, suffering from a severe immune deficiency that will require a bone marrow transplant to keep him alive.
Giovanni Guglielmo was born on July 24, weighing only 5 pounds, 14 ounces, seeming perfectly healthy at first. It was not until six weeks later when he developed a fever that things began to quickly regress.
In order for Giovanni to live, he is in need of a bone marrow transplant from a donor of a similar background. However, the Guglielmo's background, Greek-Italian, is an extremely hard match to meet on the bone marrow registry share.
Doctors said although his parents have been tested, it is unclear whether their bone marrow will match.
Giovanni's father, Michael Guglielmo, has risked everything to help save his son. Watching his construction business fail and mounting medical bills that his insurance company will not cover pile up, he has been forced to put his house up for sale. And living in Belmont, N.H., Guglielmo now spends three hours a day on the road back and forth between his home and Children's Hospital in Boston.
Since Nov. 3, Giovanni has been to four hospitals as he battles chronic infections, rashes and weight loss. He was even forced to spend Christmas at Children's Hospital, where red tinsel hung from the top of his crib.
Last month, Guglielmo started a Web site, http://helpgiovanniguglielmo.org/default.aspx, which has received 25,000 hits and generated nearly $5,000 in donations for Giovanni's care.
Many fundraisers have taken place for Giovanni across the area, such as one salon holding a "cut-a-thon," offering free haircuts to anyone who would make a donation. An autoshop even donated free gas to help the family stay at Giovanni's bedside. Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox and the Celtic's Wallly Szerbiak have also paid him visits.
But most importantly, the match for the infant's bone marrow is the one thing that remains missing.
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