A New York City father is desperately seeking a donor to save his teenage son’s life.

Max Uribe, now 15 and a high-school freshman, has just weeks until he will need to be hospitalized with a rare blood disorder that could lead to a deadly cancer.

“Max was just 6 when we first noticed there was something wrong with his blood counts,” his father, Juan Uribe, told Fox News Digital. “At the time, we thought it was due to a viral infection, but they never fully recovered back to their normal level.”

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In December 2024, Max’s condition grew worse, and he was diagnosed with clonal cytopenia, a condition involving the blood and bone marrow.

“All three of his blood counts are low — red, white and platelets,” Uribe said. 

In August 2025, another bone marrow biopsy revealed that Max is on a path to bone marrow failure, creating an urgent need for a stem cell transplant.

“The disease has continued to progress, as his blood counts continue to drop, and therefore, we have to take him to transplant in May of this year,” Uribe said.

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If left untreated, Max’s condition could lead to MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), a type of blood cancer, and from there possibly into acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

A bone marrow match must have a specific type of HLA (human leukocyte antigen), which are proteins found on the surface of most cells in the body, according to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

The closer the donor’s HLA markers are to the patient’s, the more likely the body will accept the new cells without a high risk of complications.

People from the same ethnic background are more likely to share similar HLA types, meaning a patient is most likely to find a compatible donor among individuals with similar ancestry, per the NMDP.

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Non-Hispanic White patients have a 79% chance of a perfect match. That drops to 49% for Hispanic/Latino patients, 29% for Black patients and even lower for mixed ancestries, the NMDP reports.

Because Max is a “very rare combination” of half-Colombian from his father and a mix of Italian, British and German from his mother, his path to a perfect match is proving much more difficult, Uribe noted.

“For a kid like Max, with complex, mixed heritage, the math is devastating.”

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“For a kid like Max, with complex, mixed heritage, the math is devastating,” he said. “The thinking is, we need large numbers if we’re going to have that perfect match for my son.”

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Max, who participates in competitive tennis and varsity wrestling, just had additional blood work done on Friday, which revealed that his counts continue to plummet.

“We’re at the point where this is beginning to manifest a bit more, which is why the urgency is so critical,” Uribe said.

If a donor is not secured by Max’s hospitalization in May, the medical team will have to proceed with a partial match, which is not ideal for a number of reasons.

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“The survival rate is meaningfully lower with a partial match, and there’s more risk of graft versus host disease (GVHD), which could lead to complications in the process,” Uribe said. With GVHD, the donor cells begin to attack the body.

To help prevent this with a partial match, Max would likely need chemotherapy and immunosuppressants for a longer period of time, which could weaken his immune system.

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Anyone interested in donating can order a free test kit on the Team Max website. The kit includes a quick cheek swab that is sent back to the lab to determine whether someone is a match.

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Getting a full eight hours of sleep and still feeling drowsy? Sleep experts say it’s not just about how much shuteye you get.

Dr. Wendy Troxel, a licensed clinical psychologist and senior behavioral scientist at RAND based in Utah, emphasized the “really important distinction” between quantity and quality of sleep.

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“Many people will say, ‘Man, I’m sleeping enough, I got seven to eight hours of sleep, but I still wake up feeling groggy and not refreshed,’” she told Fox News Digital during an in-studio interview. “About one in three adults has non-restorative sleep quality.”

“There are many factors that can contribute to poor sleep quality, regardless of how many hours you slept,” Troxel noted.

These include drinking alcohol — a “major contributor” to poor quality or disrupted sleep — and consuming caffeine late in the day.

Being stressed or feeling worried about something can also contribute to fragmented sleep, as can phone use at bedtime.

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Troxel addressed the belief that women need more sleep than men, noting that research does support it — though only slightly, by about 10 to 15 extra minutes per night.

“What we absolutely know is that women’s sleep quality often suffers more than men’s,” she said. “They may be getting more non-restorative sleep quality, therefore needing slightly more sleep.”

Women are also twice as likely to have insomnia compared to men, and their risk for sleep disturbances “skyrockets” during the menopausal transition.

For those who claim they sleep better with fewer hours of sleep — and feel sleepier when they get the recommended seven to nine hours — Troxel said this is not an indicator that they actually require less shuteye. “It’s simply that their body is not used to it,” she said. 

Laboratory studies have shown that sleep deprivation causes impairments in judgment, according to the expert. “That means someone who thinks they’re fine with only four hours of sleep per night likely isn’t aware of the impact sleep deprivation has on their cognition and performance.”

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For those getting less than the recommended amount, Troxel recommends taking small steps toward sleeping longer. That might mean adding about 15 minutes each night to see how it impacts the body, eventually getting into a healthier circadian rhythm.

“You will likely see benefits when you increase your sleep in small increments,” she said.

Tips for better quality sleep

Quality sleep hinges on following a healthy lifestyle and a consistent sleep-wake schedule, according to experts.

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Eating a nutritious diet free of foods that cause upset stomach or indigestion, especially in the late evening hours, can help improve sleep quality, Troxel shared.

“You don’t want to be starving at bedtime, but you also don’t want to be trying to fall asleep on a full stomach while your body’s still actively digesting,” she said.

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Exercise helps to promote quality sleep, just as sleep also improves exercise quality. However, it’s best to avoid vigorous physical activity too close to bedtime, Troxel advised.

“Exercise is very stimulating, particularly if it’s in a social environment, and that can disrupt sleep,” she said. “Exercising earlier in the day is better.”

That doesn’t have to mean working out first thing in the morning, Troxel noted, as not everyone’s circadian rhythm supports early wake-ups for exercise.

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“Those who are natural morning people are more likely to benefit from exercising earlier,” she said. “If you’re a night owl, don’t expect to love doing a workout first thing in the morning. That might not be consistent with your circadian rhythm.”

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Troxel added that people should not be “sleep-shamed” for adhering to their own internal clocks.

“These cultural trends have these subtle, or not-so-subtle, ways of undermining people’s sleep-wake biology, which is largely out of our control,” she said.