Health
Pennsylvania mom seeks ‘perfect match’ bone marrow donor to cure daughter’s rare disorder: ‘Crucial need’
A 10-year-old girl in Pennsylvania is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant — and her mother is on a mission to find the perfect match.
Lani Walter suffers from a disease called DOCK8 deficiency (dedicator of cytokinesis 8 deficiency), an immunodeficiency syndrome that can cause recurrent, life-threatening infections.
DOCK8 is very rare, with only 250 people worldwide currently diagnosed, statistics show. The only cure for DOCK8 is a bone marrow transplant — also known as a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).
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Ashleigh Walter, a kindergarten teacher, is pleading for people to join the bone marrow/blood stem cell registry to help her daughter find a donor by summer.
“Time is of the essence,” she told Fox News Digital.
Search for answers
Walter’s daughter was diagnosed with DOCK8 when she was 7½ years old, the culmination of a long series of symptoms and illnesses.
Lani Walter, 10, is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant — and her mother is on a desperate mission to find the perfect match. (Ashleigh Walter)
“Lani’s health issues started at just a couple of months old,” Walter told Fox News Digital during an interview. “As a baby, she had full-body eczema from head to toe and continuous ear infections.”
At 11 months old, she was diagnosed with severe allergies to eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts and many other foods. She’s also experienced continuous skin infections and staph infections.
In Jan. 2021, the family was invited to a clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where Walter’s daughter was able to see specialists from immunology, allergy and dermatology together in one appointment.
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“They all came together to try and figure out what might be going on,” Walter said. “Each of the specialties ran their own special bloodwork to see what was going on with Lani.”
The results showed some abnormalities in the immune system, and doctors recommended doing genetic testing.
Lani Walter, pictured, has suffered from health issues since birth. She was diagnosed with a DOCK8 deficiency when she was 7 years old. The only known cure is a bone marrow transplant. (Ashleigh Walter)
A few months later, the family received the news that Walter’s daughter has two variants of the DOCK8 gene.
“If you have issues on both sides of the gene, that’s when you present with the disorder,” Walter said. “Testing showed that both my husband and I are recessive carriers to the DOCK8 variant, which we passed down to Lani.”
She added, “So that was when we found out that all of the health issues Lani has experienced throughout her entire life were not unrelated.”
“All of the health issues Lani has experienced throughout her entire life were not unrelated.”
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, was not involved in Lani Walter’s care but commented on the condition.
“DOCK 8 is a rare immune condition where the bone marrow doesn’t make enough immune cells and the immune cells that are made have trouble penetrating into dense tissue, like skin,” he told Fox News Digital.
After the diagnosis, Walter’s daughter was invited to visit the National Institute of Health in Maryland, where researchers are studying DOCK8 deficiency.
Lani Walter, left, is pictured with her mother, older sister and father. If she does not find a 100% perfect bone marrow match, her mom, Ashleigh Walter, who is a 50% match, will donate. (Ashleigh Walter)
“We go there about every six months to see how Lani is doing, and what they recommend as she gets older,” Walter said.
The symptoms of DOCK8 deficiency tend to get more severe as the child grows into late adolescence and early adulthood, doctors have said.
Some of the biggest concerns are respiratory difficulties and a higher risk of various cancers, along with the ongoing risk of infections.
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To help manage her condition, Walter’s daughter has been getting weekly intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) infusions, which add human antibodies to help fight off infections.
She also takes daily antibiotics to help prevent pneumonia, uses an inhaler to help her respiratory system and takes other medications to treat different illnesses she experiences as a result of her DOCK8 deficiency.
Lani Walter’s hobbies include swimming, crafting, bike-riding, and spending time with her friends and pets. (Ashleigh Walter)
“That’s probably one of the least favorite parts of her day, when I tell her that she needs to take her medicine,” Walter said.
Since the only cure for her condition is a bone marrow transplant, “her doctors recommend that Lani has [the] transplant to help cure the DOCK8 before she gets older.”
What to know about bone marrow transplants
Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurologist and longevity expert at Senolytix, described HSCT as a “transformative reset button” for patients suffering from DOCK8 deficiency.
Osborn is not involved in Lani Walter’s care.
“Imagine your immune system as a computer plagued by a virus,” he told Fox News Digital.
“HSCT can mean a dramatic shift toward immunologic normalcy, providing a new lease on life.”
“HSCT removes the compromised ‘software’ and installs new, functional cells. For individuals with DOCK8 deficiency — who typically face frequent infections, severe allergies and increased cancer risk — HSCT can mean a dramatic shift toward immunologic normalcy, providing a new lease on life.”
Siegel also emphasized the procedure’s importance, calling it a “crucial life-saving procedure.”
Dr. Marc Siegel, left, and Dr. Brett Osborn, right, both weighed in on the importance of a diverse bone marrow registry. (Dr. Marc Siegel/Dr. Brett Osborn)
The average wait for a transplant is about three months, according to Siegel.
“They are very expensive — about $190,000,” he said. “Insurance generally covers the procedure, but not the cost of finding a donor.”
There is around a 25% chance that a sibling will be a match. In Lani Walter’s case, her 14-year-old sister was not a match.
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“The overall chance of finding a match in the world is 1/3 to 2/3,” Siegel said.
The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) maintains a registry of people who are willing to donate. The Walter family found a 90% match on the registry, but the optimal situation would be to find a 100% match.
“There’s much less risk with the bone marrow transplant if you can find that perfect match,” Walter told Fox News Digital.
‘Time is of the essence’
Lani Walter’s doctors recommend that she receives the donation before she starts middle school. Next year, she will start fifth grade.
“Ideally, we would do it before Lani sees significant issues with other organs in her body,” said Ashleigh Walter.
“Joining the bone marrow registry could be your most profound gift.”
If the family does not find a perfect match, Walter said she will donate to her daughter, as parents are always half-matches.
“Obviously, we would still love for her to be able to find a full match on the donor registry, which is much less of a risk,” she said. “But if that’s not possible, we can move forward with a half match.”
Lani Walter’s doctors are recommending she receive the bone marrow donation before she starts middle school. Next year, she will start fifth grade. (Ashleigh Walter)
With partial matches, there is a higher risk of “graft versus host disease,” which is a complication that occurs when donor bone marrow or stem cells attack the recipient.
“It can cause different issues throughout the body, similar to an organ transplant rejection,” Walter said.
If her daughter receives a successful bone marrow transplant, Walter said — she will be cured of DOCK8.
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“She won’t have an immune deficiency anymore,” she said. “She’ll adopt the immune system of the donor, and we won’t have to worry about any of those increased risks at all.”
Walter is hopeful that her daughter — whom she describes as “a little kid at heart” — will soon be healthy and able to return to the activities she loves, including swimming.
If her daughter receives a successful bone marrow transplant, Ashleigh Walter said, she will be cured of DOCK8. Walter is hopeful that her daughter will soon be healthy and able to return to the activities she loves (Ashleigh Walter)
“Lani has been on a swim team since kindergarten, and this will be her first summer not doing it,” Walter said.
She also enjoys bike-riding, crafting, and spending time with her friends and pets.
A call to register
There are millions of potential donors on the bone marrow registry — with more than 300,000 Americans joining just last year — but Walter noted that the likelihood of someone finding a perfect match is very low.
“The more people who join the registry, the more likely that a perfect match will be there for you,” she said.
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As a neurosurgical trauma surgeon, Osborn of Florida said he can attest to the dire need for blood and bone marrow donors.
“There is a critical shortage of both,” he said. “In emergency and surgical settings, the availability of blood products can be the difference between life and death.”
People can join the bone marrow registry by visiting the NMDP’s website to order a test kit. “It’s a really simple cheek swab kit that they’ll send to your house and then you send it back,” Walter said. (iStock)
It’s “vital” to have diversity in the bone marrow registry, Osborn noted.
“A closely matched donor reduces complications and improves outcomes,” he said.
“This emphasizes why everyone should consider joining the registry. We can all manufacture these potentially life-saving blood products, and by donating, we fulfill a crucial societal need.”
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While some have the misconception that donation is difficult, Osborn said that’s not the case.
“Donating bone marrow is a low-risk, outpatient procedure associated with only minor discomfort. It’s a great way to pay it forward.”
“In emergency and surgical settings, the availability of blood products can be the difference between life and death.”
People can join the bone marrow registry by visiting the NMDP’s website to order a test kit.
“It’s a really simple cheek swab kit that they’ll send to your house and then you send it back,” Walter said. “You don’t have to pay any money for anything.”
“The more people that join, the more people who can find their perfect match.”
“For conditions like DOCK8 deficiency, a bone marrow transplant can offer a chance at a healthier life,” Osborn added.
“Joining the bone marrow registry could be your most profound gift, potentially saving a life with your healthy cells.”
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Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. New research shows one group getting hit the hardest – those without a college degree.
A recent study from the American Cancer Society analyzed data from over 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023.
While death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed.
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For young adults with a high school education or less, the mortality rate rose from 4.0 to 5.2 per 100,000 people, while the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree stayed flat, at approximately 2.7 per 100,000.
This does not mean that a degree offers some kind of biological protection, researchers cautioned.
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. (iStock)
The difference is likely driven by the conditions in which people live and work, which often correlate with education levels, the researchers noted.
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The study suggests that the higher death rates are likely driven by differences in the prevalence of risk factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and diet, which are “known to be elevated among children and young adults with lower [socioeconomic status].”
Because the study relied on death certificates, researchers couldn’t say exactly why college graduates had better outcomes.
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes. (iStock)
Certificates typically list the cause of death, age, race and education level, but they do not include a person’s full medical history.
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Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes.
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Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group, according to recent statistics.
While colorectal cancer death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed. (iStock)
Because the disease is highly treatable when caught early, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45 in 2021.
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Common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days, according to the American Cancer Society.
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Other signs that warrant seeing a doctor include blood in the stool or a persistent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom but being unable to go.
The research was published in JAMA Oncology.
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A young woman who started vaping at the age of 15 has been given just 18 months to live — after being diagnosed with lung cancer in her early 20s.
Kayley Boda, 22, of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, was engaging in heavy vaping on a regular basis when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025, news agency SWNS reported.
The retail assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection — until she began coughing up blood.
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After seven biopsies, Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy — and in February 2026, got the all-clear, the same source reported.
Two months later, though, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining. Now she’s been given 18 months to live.
Kayley Boda, 22, is shown in the hospital. She started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in January 2025, she said. She had been vaping since the age of 15. (SWNS)
The young woman has now issued a warning to others to be aware of the dangers of vaping.
Boda said she smoked a bit as a young teenager. She took up vaping after that.
Then, “a few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus,” as SWNS reported.
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“Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. … Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an X-ray and found a shadow on my lung,” she added.
“They told me they were 99% sure, [since I was] so young, that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back, and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.”
Boda said she was “very naive” before her diagnosis and thought that “something like this would never happen to me.”
She said that she had surgery to remove half of her right lung.
“After the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up. I was throwing up blood. I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
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She said that when she got the “all clear [in Feb. 2026], it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.”
She added, “I’m 22. This isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.”
“Stay off the vapes because they will catch up with you.”
She blames her cancer on vaping, she said.
“My symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family,” she said. “I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mom stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes,” she continued, “because they will catch up with you.”
When doctors did an X-ray, they found a shadow on Boda’s right lung. She was later diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
She said she’d been using reusable vapes since the age of 15 and began using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.
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In November 2024, when she developed a rash all over her body, doctors said it could have been due to shingles, chicken pox or scabies, she told SWNS.
‘Nothing worked’
“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” Boda said. “It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”
A few months after that, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with “grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it,” she said. When the coughing continued, she visited the doctor’s office, but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection, she also said.
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It wasn’t until March 2025 that she began coughing up bright red blood. At that point, doctors gave her a chest X-ray and told her they’d found a shadow on her lower right lung.
Over the next four months, she had seven biopsies as doctors took samples from the “shadow.” In August, when she went to get the results, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.
Boda is shown in the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
In September 2025, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes. During the surgery, doctors upstaged her cancer from stage one to stage three after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes, she said.
Following the surgery, Boda was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk all over again.
“The oncologist said this is so rare.”
After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was given the all clear, leaving her feeling elated.
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However, just a month after that, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion — a build-up of fluid in the lungs. She had the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.
“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said, as SWNS reported.
Increasingly, vacation hot spots are enforcing strict bans on the use of e-cigarettes in public venues. (iStock)
Boda claimed that doctors were unable to pin her cancer to a specific cause — but told her that smoking and vaping definitely didn’t help.
Since her diagnosis, she has stopped and is urging others to stop, too.
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She’s hoping to raise the thousands of dollars needed for treatment to try to prolong her life, she said.
Last year, Fox News Digital reported on the case of a Pennsylvania woman, 26, who said she vaped for just one year before her lungs collapsed. She was 22 when she took up the habit, she said in an interview.
“Everybody warned me about it, but I didn’t listen — I wish that I did,” she said.
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Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and program director at Recover Together Bend in Oregon, told Fox News Digital at that time that signs of collapsed lungs include sharp chest or shoulder pain, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
Lung issues are just one of the many health issues linked to vaping, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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The key to feeling better in a fast, overstimulated world might be surprisingly simple: Live a little more like your grandparents.
A growing social media trend, dubbed “nonnamaxxing,” draws inspiration from the slower, more intentional rhythms associated with an Italian grandmother.
The lifestyle is often linked to activities like preparing home-cooked meals, spending time outdoors and making meaningful connections.
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“Nonnamaxxing is a 2026 trend that embraces the slower, more intentional lifestyle of an Italian grandmother (a Nonna). Think cooking from scratch, long family meals, daily walks, gardening and less screen time,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
Stepping away from screens and toward real-world interaction can have measurable benefits, according to California-based psychotherapist Laurie Singer.
“We know that interacting with others in person, rather than spending time on screens, significantly improves mental health,” she told Fox News Digital, adding that social media often fuels comparison and lowers self-esteem.
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Living more like previous generations isn’t purely driven by nostalgia. Cooking meals from scratch, for example, has been linked to better nutrition and more mindful eating patterns.
Adopting traditional mealtime habits can improve diet quality and support both physical and mental health, especially when meals are shared regularly with others, Palinski-Wade noted.
One longevity expert stresses that staying healthy isn’t just about food — it’s also about joy and community. (iStock)
There’s also a psychological benefit to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time. Anxiety often stems from unfinished or avoided tasks, Singer noted, and engaging in hands-on activities can counteract that.
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“Nonnamaxxing encourages us to be present around a task, like gardening, baking or knitting, or just taking a mindful walk, that delivers something ‘real,’” she said.
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Palinski-Wade cautions against turning the trend into another source of pressure, noting that a traditional “nonna” lifestyle often assumes a different pace of life.
The key, she said, is adapting the mindset, not replicating it perfectly.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
The goal is to reintroduce small, intentional moments that make you feel better.
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That might mean prioritizing a few shared meals each week, taking a walk without your phone or setting aside time for a simple hobby, the expert recommended.
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Singer added, “Having a positive place to escape to, through whatever activities speak to us and make us happy, isn’t generational – it’s human.”
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