Stem cell donor session organised to help son

Leo has been diagnosed with leukaemia and now needs a stem cell donor

Parents of a teenager diagnosed with leukaemia have organised a stem cell donor registration session to help their son.

Leo, 16, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, had aready battled an acute liver disease but has now recieved a blood cancer diagnosis.

For patients with blood cancer, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could be the only opportunity for recovery. One in three patients will find a match in their family but unfortunately for Leo his odds of a family match are low as he has no siblings.

The family is now working with blood cancer charity DKMS to search for a stem cell donor with an event organised on 23 November at St Godwald's church hall in the town.

"I remember the doctor telling me, and I just burst into tears in the hallways. My heart was broken, my world just fell apart," mum Jenna said.

Leo relies on finding a match from a stranger who has signed up the stem cell donor register, but just 7% of the eligible population in the UK are signed up, DKMS said.

People can join the register by going to the church hall from 13:00 to 18:00 GMT. Swabs will be taken so the charity can find out if attendees are a match for Leo, or another patient in urgent need of a stem cell transplant.

'A second chance'

Leo was diagnosed with a liver disease at age 12 but life had been getting back to normal.

He started to feel tired, which his family initially put down to long days on his new college course. But when he started getting unusually large bruises his mum took him in for tests.

"Leo looked very pale, and my mother's instinct told me he needed a blood test ASAP, something just was not right," Jenna said.

"I took him to the doctors, and that same night we got a call advising us to get Leo to the hospital right away.

"He went into Birmingham Children's Hospital, and immediately needed a blood transfusion."

Within days, Leo was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, a form of blood cancer.

"There is no way to describe the utter heartache. Leo is our only child and our best friend," Jenna said.

Dad Warren added: "Leo is my whole world. He's my mini me, my greatest joy, and he deserves a second chance at life.

"Watching him face this fight with such courage breaks my heart, but it also fills me with pride.

"He deserves so much more than this struggle, he deserves a future."