Father's viral TikTok brings thousands of Latinos to national donor database

PALO ALTO, Calif. - A father posted his first TikTok this month, in a last-ditch effort to find a bone marrow donor for his teenage son. His plea to the Latino community to join the National Marrow Donor Program went viral, and encouraged thousands of people to sign up. 

Last August, Juan Uribe's teenage son Max received a diagnosis that could make any parent shudder. 

"There are three pink flags that are often associated with MDS, which is a form of blood cancer," Uribe told KTVU. "And she also said the words that really changed our lives, 'You need to add a stem cell transplant doctor to the team." 

The backstory:

Max's blood tests were abnormal when he was around six or seven years old, but doctors could not figure out exactly why. His health struggles came to a head in 2025.

That's when the Uribe family learned that, without a donor, Max would likely develop life-threatening blood cancer. But finding a match for Max, who has a mixed Colombian and European heritage, is not easy.

"Only 13% of the NMDP registry identifies as Hispanic. And so when you have somebody who has Hispanic blood, and they're also mixed with Caucasian and other ethnicities, it makes it even harder," Erica Sevilla, with the National Marrow Donor Program said. 

So Juan came up with an idea.  

"I figured what's the quickest and best way to reach as many people as possible? And I could think of no other thing but social media and TikTok specifically," he said. 

The video took off. It has now been viewed more than 20 million times, and more than 30,000 new people registered for cheek swab kits from the NMDP. 

Nearly 57% of those new registrants are Latino or Hispanic. 

Dig deeper:

For those who match with a patient and choose to become donors, Uribe calls it one of the easiest ways to save a life.

"They take out blood, they harvest the stem cells from that blood, and then they return the blood to you. And that's it. And then you have saved a life," Uribe said. 

Dr. Lori Muffly is a professor of medicine at Stanford, and she has treated patients like Max for years.

"Just to see the excitement and the huge relief that patients and families get when we identify a compatible donor…it’s huge, it changes the trajectory of their life," Dr. Muffly told KTVU. 

While the family is hoping to find a donor for Max by May, Max is also grateful to be giving others the chance at a match too. 

"I think he has realized, as we have, that this isn't about Max really. This is about thousands of patients that are in need," Uribe said. 

What you can do:

Those who wish to join the NMDP must be between the ages of 18–35. Anyone interested in getting tested to see if you could be a match and save a life, please visit the NMDP website.