The Perth family hopes little boy Zachary’s life will be changed by Sister Grace’s cord blood donation

A Perth family launches a major fundraiser to transform the life of their three-year-old son who has cerebral palsy.

The plan is to use a cord blood donation from Zachary’s little sister Grace – but the procedure can’t be performed in Australia and it won’t be cheap.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: The Perth family hope the girl’s cord blood can transform their brother’s life

Check out the latest news and stream for free on 7plus >>

Cord blood is rich in powerful stem cells but can only be collected at birth for possible future use.

The hope is that the blood will help rebuild some of Zach’s damaged brain tissue and ultimately give him more control over his movements.

The couple’s parents only found out it was an option when they were pregnant with Grace.

“This was an opportunity that came at no cost to Grace. We would expand our family and she could potentially change her brother’s life,” said mother Elle de Koning.

For this, the family has to travel to America. The procedure costs $15,000.

“You only get one chance, so we wanted to make sure we were going to the right place,” said father Will de Koning.

To give their son the best chance of an independent life, the boy’s parents are doing everything to raise funds – from crowdfunding to a fun day out for the whole family at Neil Hawkins Park in Joondalup.

The stem cells from the umbilical cord blood should arrive in the USA by the end of March.

If all else goes according to plan, the family will arrive in May.

The storage of stem cells for future use is not widely known as 40,000 Australian families use Cell Care to store their cord blood.

It costs almost $4000 upfront for 20 years of storage.