Thirteen-year-old Jack Malott-Clarke of London, Ont., has been a comic book fan his entire life. He loves dressing up as some of his favourite characters and attending annual Comic Con events.   

But his world changed in 2019 when at age 10, he was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia — his body is unable to produce new blood cells and platelets, causing an empty bone marrow. 

Jack’s condition requires him to have a blood transfusion at least twice a week. To date, he’s received about 130 units of blood and platelets, but that’s becoming more challenging with the blood shortage in Canada.

“A lot of people don’t donate blood or platelets because