'Could you save our children?'

By SARAH HILLS, Metro

Last updated at 10:17 05 April 2006


A brother and sister are facing a race against time to beat a lifethreatening illness. Ella and Sam Wright need bone marrow transplants - and a donor must be found by the summer or it could be too late to save them.

Ella, four, and Sam, two, have a rare condition which leaves them chronically ill. Without a transplant, it is likely they will develop cancer and die.

But so far an international search for a donor has failed to find a match. Their parents' only hope is that someone will join a register and prove compatible with the children, of Southport, Merseyside.

Ella and Sam's mother, Sally, said: "Every single person who joins the register has the potential to save a life.

"Every day we are just waiting on a call to say the doctors have found a match for our children."

If the transfusion-is left much longer Ella and Sam will be in too poor health to have the procedure.

Ruth Carter, of the Anthony Nolan Trust which provides donors for patients who need a bone marrow transplant, said: "We hope that everyone who hears about Ella and Sam's plight will want to help, either by joining our register or making a donation."

Potential bone marrow donors need to be between 18 and 40 and in good health. Volunteers will be asked to fill in a medical form and give a blood sample. Phone 0901 8822234 or visit www.anthonynolan.org.uk

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