Aaron Lipschitz was diagnosed with an incredibly rare form of Interleukin-12 Receptor Defect and he is the only known case where he cannot eat any food. Donors have come to his rescue in the best way.
Little Aaron started to get sick when he was just two-weeks old. His parents rushed him to the hospital and after many tests, they learned that the sweet boy was allergic to his mother’s breast milk. Taryn and husband Steven, Aaron’s parents, quickly made the change to help him but were devastated to find out that besides water, he would react to anything he attempted to consume. He was left in agony after each feeding attempt.
Aaron was diagnosed with a rare disease known as ‘Interleukin-12 Receptor Defect’ and his case is the only known one in the world that prevents him from eating.
For the first two years of his life, Aaron had to take a pancreatic enzyme pill called Creon in order to digest an expensive formula called Neocate, which he had to take every 2 to 3 hours. His body couldn’t tolerate anything else. By October 2017, doctors confirmed that the formula was no longer providing Aaron with enough nutrition to accommodate his growth and he was fitted with central lines and catheters to begin Total Parenteral Nutrition which commonly used for coma patients.
“A port runs through Aaron’s heart and every evening he is fed intravenously, avoiding his digestive system.” – Taryn.
At three years old, Aaron can perfectly recite every single medication he is on. To help his immune system to work more effectively, needles are inserted into his legs to administer immunoglobulin.
“Aaron developed extremely high temperatures on Monday, 12 March and was readmitted to hospital. Tests show a bacterial infection in his blood stream. The setbacks keep coming but Aaron keeps fighting!” – says Tarryn.
The only hope of Aaron leading a healthy life will require multiple chemotherapy sessions and eventually a bone marrow transplant when a donor match is found. Specialists would essentially need to build Aaron a new immune system.
Aaron’s parents set up a campaign on donations based crowdfunding platform, BackaBuddy, to appeal to the public to support their little boy while he fights his condition.
The campaign went live on the 31 of January 2018 and has so far secured R1 245 350.57 towards his fundraising target of R1 500 000, with the contributions from over 675 donors. Single donations have ranged from R100 to R300 000 and have come from national and international donors.
“We have been completely blown away by our BackaBuddy experience. For the first 3 years of Aaron’s life, we tried to manage without community support, both emotionally and financially. It was a big step for us to share Aaron’s story and ask for the help we need. Our BackaBuddy campaign has completely exceeded our expectations.” – says Taryn
The family are urging people to register with the Sunflower Fund so that they can find a bone marrow donor or stem cell donor for Aaron. This will greatly help on his road to recovery.
“We are urging people to go onto the Sunflower Website to register as a bone marrow/stem cell donor. The process is as simple as making a phone call, filling out a form and having 2 vials of blood taken.You could save Aaron or another person waiting for their miracle.” – says Taryn
To register as a donor, you can visit the Sunflower Fund here. You can also help the family out by donating to their fund for Aaron here.
by 
Aaron is the most beautiful little boy I have ever seen xxx