Family's Delight As Bone Marrow Donor Saves Two-Year-Old's Life

Family's Delight As Bone Marrow Donor Saves Two-Year-Old's Life
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A bone marrow donor has been found for two-year-old Gaurav Bains who desperately needs a transplant.

The fantastic news comes after his parents launched an online campaign in a frantic effort to save their son's life.

Gaurav was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder called Monosomy 7 in June and will undergo the potentially life-saving transplant next month.

Doctors said it was likely the West Midlands boy would have developed an aggressive form of childhood leukaemia if a match had not been found.

His plight inspired a 1200 chance of finding a match. We urgently need more Asian people to step forward and join the bone marrow register."

There has been a ten-fold increase in Asian people applying to join the register since the family's campaign - with 500 potential donors coming forward in the last two months, compared with 40 this time last year.

Ann O' Leary, from Anthony Nolan said: ""What a lot of people aren't aware of is that ethnicity is really important when it comes to bone marrow donation - someone's match is most likely to be from their own background."

While for most white northern Europeans that meant about a 90 per cent chance of a successful match, for those from Asian communities, the chance is closer to 40 per cent, she said.