The parents of a girl aged two being treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital have launched an urgent appeal for donors to help save her from leukaemia.
Ella-Rose Quigley, from Enfield, needs a blood stem cell transplant to overcome the cancer but she has no siblings and a matching donor is yet to be found.
Described as a happy child who loves playing with friends and dressing up, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in September.
Her mother Nicole said: “Ella-Rose has been through more in the last three months than most people will endure in a lifetime. She continues to smile but we really need to find a donor for her.
“We are asking everyone to register online as the process is very simple. A cheek swab can save someone’s life. The longer we wait, the weaker Ella-Rose will get.”
The Evening Standard’s Give to GOSH Appeal is helping to fund facilities, support for families and research at the hospital. It has already raised more than £2.7 million.
Mrs Quigley, who used to work for a merchant bank, and husband Mark, a technology company manager, are helping the charity Delete Blood Cancer to appeal for donors. Volunteers just need to take a cheek swab — a DIY kit can be ordered online — to check whether their tissue type matches.
In 90 per cent of cases stem cells can be taken from donor’s blood. In the remainder of instances, a syringe is used to withdraw bone marrow from the donor’s hip while they are under general anaesthetic.
Caroline Portlock, the charity’s head of donor recruitment, said: “Registering online as a potential blood stem cell donor only takes a few minutes but it could lead to you giving decades to someone else. It could be one of the most important things you ever do.”
