SEMINOLE, Fla. (WFLA) — The call had been 16 years in the making. That stretch of time, the length of King Grant’s young life, was how long he and his mother, Latasha Grant, had been looking for a bone marrow donor.

“I was pretty shocked that I found the donor after all these years,” King said.

8 On Your Side profiled King nearly two years ago, when he was still searching for a donor. He has chronic granulomatous disease, a genetic disorder.

“I’m tired,” King said through yawns. “Tired of waking up, getting shots, getting meds every day.”

What he needed then was a bone marrow transplant from an African American person. Through the National Institute of Health in Maryland, the Grants found one. What they need now is money for that transplant.

When Latasha got the call, she said her mood swung quickly.

“When they started telling me just a little bit of how much it’s going to cost and how quick all this is going to happen,” Latasha recalled. “I went from being happy to overwhelmed.”

Latasha said doctors and advisors recommended she budget $50,000 for the five or so months King would need for the operation and recovery.

“So now we’re desperately trying to get funding,” Latasha explained. “So we can get to Maryland to make sure that this bone marrow transplant happens.”

She said the transplant is truly life or death now.

“I honestly wanted to push it back further,” Latasha said. “But we didn’t have a choice. King has run out of therapies, and they said this is our only choice.”

She said time is running out.

“I just really want him to have his transplant,” Latasha said. “So he can experience some time of, you know, of life.”

If you’d like to donate to their GoFundMe, you can do so here. Latasha also said she would be open if someone wanted to organize a fundraiser or a walk to raise awareness and money.