B.C. parents heading to Duke University for stem cell treatment for their triplet son

Triplet parents in Coquitlam are raising funds for a rare stem cell treatment in the U.S. after one of their sons was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

When Natalia Kubiak and Matt Gore learned they were pregnant, they wondered if there could be more than one baby, since twins run in Kubiak’s family.

“We were joking going into the ultrasound about how it might be kind of exciting if we had twins. We always wanted two,” said Gore.

So when an ultrasound technician informed them it was triplets?

“You’re just sitting there dumbfounded,” Kubiak said. “Just absolutely speechless. It was the biggest surprise of my life.”

Surprise turned to concern last July when their triplets Noah, Nolan and Naomi were born extremely premature at just 25 weeks gestation.

The babies were taken to the neonatal extensive care unit, and all three had some health issues related to their prematurity.

“Things really took a turn for the worse about a month in, when Noah was transferred to the BC Children’s Hospital for emergency surgery,“ said Kubiak.

Several other surgeries followed for Noah, which was more than his little body could take.

“Unfortunately, his lungs collapsed, and there was a very hard stretch of time where he wasn’t able to get enough oxygen no matter what they were trying, which led to a brain injury. So from the brain injury he’s since been diagnosed with cerebral palsy,” said Gore.

While Noah’s brain injury can’t be cured, there is promising treatment in the world of umbilical cord stem cell therapy.

“We’re hoping that with the stem cell therapy, Noah may be able to sit up unassisted. Maybe he will get better use of his legs. Maybe he’ll learn how to roll,” said Kubiak.

The Coquitlam parents decided it was something they needed to do for Noah.

“Talking to the doctors at B.C. Children’s Hospital, they said that there’s a chance that this treatment might be available in Canada, but not for not for quite a few years. So one of our options was we can wait until it’s offered here. But we also know that everything that we’ve been reading, everything all the doctors have been telling us, is that that early intervention is key,” said Gore.

So the couple reached out to Duke University in North Carolina, where doctors are already beyond the clinical trial stage for a stem cell treatment for children with brain injuries like Noah.

“We have an opportunity to go down to Duke University and as part of their expanded access program, to give Noah the treatment that they were using in their clinical trial,” said Gore.

The treatment costs $25,000 per round. The couple created a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of Noah’s first visit to Duke over the Thanksgiving weekend.

“We are so touched by the amount of people who have shared our story, by the amount of people who have donated,” said Kubiak. “It just it means so much. We can’t thank you enough.”

The triplets are now 15 months old, and Nolan and Naomi are hitting their milestones. As for Noah, the little boy with a captivating grin who has already defied the odds?

“We just want him to have as close to normal a childhood as we can,” said his dad. “More than anything, we just don’t want him to be left behind.”