DOZENS desperate to help a little Huddersfield girl battling leukaemia and others like her came forward yesterday.
They queued inside a church hall in Berry Brow, willing to become bone marrow donors for the Anthony Nolan Trust.
Their hope, and the hope of the family of Sophie Edwards, seven, was that a match for the youngster could be found.
Sophie, of Newsome, is battling a rare form of leukaemia and her only hope is a bone marrow transplant.
Yesterday’s testing clinic was the first step, with would-be donors giving blood samples and signing up to join the register of possible donors.
The queue snaking across the hall at Newsome South Methodist Church moved Sophie’s dad, Andrew.
He said: “It is vital that a donor is found.
“Sophie faces another three months of chemotherapy and if that works, the next move is for her to have a bone marrow transplant but we need an exact match as a donor.
“She is remarkably cheerful but we all know that without a transplant, she will not survive.
“There are no guarantees with a transplant but it is her best chance. I’m just so grateful that all these people are willing to help.”
The Anthony Nolan Trust have also been working with Examiner journalist Adrian Sudbury, who yesterday announced the grim news that despite a transplant, the chronic leukaemia that he has fought for 18 months has returned, bringing with it a death sentence.
But Adrian himself is determined to persuade others to join the bone marrow register and has backed the Trust and their clinics.
Rebecca Sedgwick, who organised the clinic, said: “We try to organise clinics like this in an area where we have patients and obviously here in Huddersfield we have Sophie and Adrian.
“We hope that the people who sign up here will prove to be a match for someone on a register who is waiting for a transplant.”
For more information on becoming a donor visit www.anthonynolan.org.uk
