Bone marrow appeal boy dies

Joel was too ill to have a bone marrow transplant

A six-year-old Nottinghamshire boy who was too ill to have a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant has died.

Joel Picker-Spence from Farndon had been suffering from leukaemia. He died in hospital on Monday night.

A suitable bone marrow donor was found in September after an appeal for one, but the operation had to be put off because Joel was, by then, too ill.

His parents brought Christmas forward for him and held a festive party complete with presents last month.

Joel was diagnosed with the condition more than three years ago and had been in remission.

But his mother Anne-Marie Picker-Spence said tests showed the cancer cells had returned.

He had a week of intensive chemotherapy to get him well enough for his transplant, but the treatment failed to work and doctors said he was too ill for the procedure.