Family appeal for cancer victim

Doctors use blood tests to find a donor match

A family from Newry has held a bone marrow appeal clinic in the city in an effort to find a donor for their niece in the United States.

Eight-year-old Aileen Fern suffers from aplastic anaemia and finding a suitable match is her only chance of a cure.

Aileen's aunt, Imelda, said there was a better chance of finding a match in Northern Ireland because her family was originally from the province.

There are no suitable bone marrow donors within Aileen's family.

Donors

She was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a rare condition caused by the failure of bone marrow to produce red blood cells, when she was three-years-old.

The Anthony Nolan Trust, which has a pool of more than 330,000 potential donors, helped the family organise the donor session.

The trust staged a similar clinic in Newry in 2000, and despite over 300 people giving samples a suitable donor was not found.

Anyone who wants to come forward as a donor must be aged between 18 to 40 years old, be in good health and be willing to donate stem cells to any patient they may ever match.