A FAMILY are united in the hope that a bone marrow donor who could save Selina Ramanah's life was found last night.
A clinic was held at Lindley Village Surgery to help find a donor for the 21-year-old Almondbury student, who is seriously ill with leukaemia in St James's Hospital, Leeds.
Huddersfield Pendragon Round Table organised the clinic, along with The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust.
Selina's sister, Devina, 25, went to last night's clinic to thank people for their help.
She said: "We are just hoping something will come out of this.
"Selina is still very ill and in a lot of pain. We are visiting the hospital round the clock."
Devina, mother Shantah and brother Jason have already been tested, but unfortunately are not suitable as donors.
Selina, who was in the second year of an illustration degree course at Kingston University, London, battled leukaemia three years ago. But five weeks ago she was told it had returned.
She has already undergone one course of chemotherapy at St James Hospital and will need another when she is well enough.
Doctors have told her family that she will then need a bone marrow transplant.
The Anthony Nolan Trust says donors from ethnic minority backgrounds and young men are particularly needed to join the register.
Selina's parents were born in Mauritius and a donor from an Asian background is most likely to provide a most suitable match for their daughter.
People who volunteer to join the register receive one-to-one counselling before giving a blood sample.
When joining the register - which has 370,000 people on it in this country - they must commit themselves to help any patient.
Donors cannot just help someone they know.
Blood tests take about two weeks before people are identified as potential matches.
