Lopez asks for bone marrow donors

Jennifer Lopez is of Puerto Rican descent

Singer Jennifer Lopez has urged America's Hispanics to become bone marrow donors in a bid to save the life of a woman dying from blood cancer.

Doctors say that Janet Ovalles is most likely to find a match from someone sharing her own ethnic background.

"I am a young Hispanic woman, so is Janet. I could empathise with her situation so much," said Lopez, who is of Puerto Rican origin.

There are too few Hispanics on the US register of donors, officials say.

"These things just make you realize that we're all interconnected and depend on one another," added the 36-year-old star.

Ms Ovalles, who is 29 and lives in New York, has been unable to find a suitable donor through the 10m registered worldwide or her own family.

DKMS, the bone marrow donor centre who are organising the campaign to find her a life-saving match, have said they hope that Lopez's plea will prompt Hispanic donors to come forward.

"It's been very hard to recruit Hispanic bone marrow donors, but with Jennifer's help we really feel we can get the Hispanic community on board," said the head of DKMS, Katharina Harf.