Desperate search for marrow donor to save six-year-old Imogin

A girl aged six is facing a race against time to find a donor who could save her life.

Imogin Appiah, from Croydon, is suffering from leukaemia and desperately needs a bone marrow transplant.

She is undergoing intensive chemotherapy at the Royal Marsden hospital in preparation for a transplant.

But because there are so few black and Asian people on the British bone marrow register Imogin's chances of finding a match are only one in 100,000. A white person has a one in five chance.

The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust is urging people to join the register.

Imogin's mother Sheila said: "The love I have for my daughter is so deep and she means the world to me. She is and always will be a fighter and we are reaching out for support from people now."

Imogin, a pupil at Elmwood primary school in Croydon, was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was three. She underwent more than two years of chemotherapy and went into remission.

But in February she relapsed and was told she needs a bone marrow transplant. Mrs Appiah, 37, said: "We only had a very short time to enjoy at the end of her treatment before she relapsed.

"It is absolutely vital that people realise how important it is to get on to the bone marrow register.

"Imogin is having very intensive chemotherapy at the moment. After the last round she was not able to speak, eat or drink. But there is still hope and I am urging people to come forward."