Family and friends of 12-week old Kaimani Knight, or ‘Baby Kai’, currently hospitalized in isolation at a Portland, Oregon children’s hospital, are reaching out to all Samoans— both locally and abroad— for bone marrow donors.

“My son has been diagnosed with SCID, or Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. It means that he has no functional immune system,” his mother Nykki Knight said via telephone from Doernbecher’s Children Hospital where her son is hospitalized. She noted that her son's condition is "extremely rare.”

Kaimani, whose great grandfather is Samoan, was born 12-weeks ago yesterday and when he was born he was healthy because he was protected by antibodies inherited at birth from his mother. “But those are wearing off a little each day,” according to information the family posted online in a site dedicated to Baby Kai.

(Knight also confirmed this information when she spoke to Samoa News yesterday morning.)

“If not treated, the [SCID) condition is fatal, usually within the first year. With treatment he is expected to make a full recovery,” the online message says. “Kai will need chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant. For the best results they would prefer to start the process by— or before— three months of age.”

The message online also says that Baby Kai is facing months of aggressive treatment at Doernbecher Children's Hospital. While insurance will pay for his procedure “we will be leaving our home for a minimum of three months to support him on his journey back to health and will not be able to work during this time,” according to the family message.

The family also says they are working on locating a suitable bone marrow donor that is a proper match with Kai. Volunteer donors can register at www.BeTheMatch.org to be added to their donor registry.

Knight told Samoa News that her grandfather, Talisua Niko is from American Samoa and moved to the U.S. where he married her grandmother. She said her grand father passed away when she was very young.

She said Baby Kai “smiles a lot, and is a very happy young boy. We focus on the positive outcome and we will remain positive. We’re really good in focusing on the positive.”

Knight explained that her family had gone through a similar situation several years ago, when their elder son, who is now 14-years old, all of a sudden suffered a heart problem, where his heart just stopped.

The son was just 8-years old at the time and the physicians “basically shocked his heart back,” she said, adding that the heart issue was still undiagnosed when they went home, but medication was given for the son.

“So far my eldest son has not suffered any more heart problems, and he is doing well, but we still keep an eye on him,” Knight said.

To expedite the search for donors, who must have some Samoan ancestry in order to be potential match, a close friend of the Knight family, Art Atencio reached out yesterday to Congressman Faleomavaega Eni, whose office staff in Washington D.C. then referred Atencio to the local media so that the family’s efforts to find Samoan donors right away is “not politicized.” By going to the local media, they can also reach a larger audience of Samoan people.

Atencio told the Congressman’s Office that Baby Kai’s “chances for survival depend upon finding a donor—specifically one who meets all the criteria and is of Samoan and European descent like Kai.”

Atencio says he has already contacted the Ekalesia Samoa United Church of Christ in Portland and the reverend there as been kind enough to send out a request to the congregation. “However, for this child to survive, we need to cast a much larger net,” he said.

You can donate to the family at: http://www.gofundme.com/BabyKai