Mother's desperate plea for a bone marrow donor to save her two young childrens' lives

Without a lifesaving bone marrow transplant the six-year-old girl and her little brother, four, have little chance of survival.

Both born suffering from a weakened immune system - common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) - which leaves them highly vulnerable to serious infections and viruses.

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So serious is the condition that without a bone marrow transplant, it is likely the pair will develop cancer and die before they reach their teenage years.

The family has been desperately searching for a perfect bone marrow match that will give the children a new chance of life.

But so far the search has proved fruitless - leaving the two young siblings have a death sentence hanging over them.

Their mother, Sally Wright, of Southport, Merseyside said: "Ella and Sam are just like normal young children and want to do everything young children want to do but we have to be very careful with their health as they pick up infections very easily.

"It is a desperate situation because they do need a bone marrow transplant very soon. All we need is for one special person with the same tissue-type as Ella and Sam to join the register.

"It sounds easy but we don't know who that person is or where they live so it is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Although the children attend school as much as they can they are very susceptible to coughs, colds and other illnesses.

Common colds can lead to spells in hospital and they have to be shielded from the worst of the childhood illnesses for fear it could prove fatal.

Mrs Wright, 30, said: "They had to come out of school recently because chicken pox were around and that could have been lethal for them."

She and her husband, Damian, 34, a window cleaner, are desperately appealing for people to join the Anthony Nolan Trust register in the hope that a bone marrow match can be found for her children.

"All we can do is hope that people will step forward, and even if they aren't a match for our children, they could be that special person for the thousands of others who are also waiting."

She said: "Every single person who joins the register has the potential to save a life. Every day we are just waiting on a call to say the doctors have found a match for our children."

But time is of the essence for Sam and Ella because if the transfusion is left much longer they will be in too poor health to have the procedure.

The Anthony Nolan Trust is making an urgent appeal for people aged between 18 and 40 to join the register as there are currently 7,000 people in the UK and across the world waiting to find a matching donor.

They say it is extremely rare for two siblings to suffer from the same condition.

The charity is particularly seeking more young male donors and those of UK minority ethnic backgrounds to join.

Alex Frazier, spokesman for Anthony Nolan Trust, said: "The greatest gift you could give is the gift of life.

"Bone marrow donors save lives. Less than 30 per cent of patients find a donor in their own family so they are totally reliant on the bone marrow register.

"However there is an urgent need for more volunteers to sign up as potential donors. Each year many patients die, unable to find a suitable matching donor."

Last year the Anthony Nolan Trust found a matching donor for five-year-old leukaemia sufferer Georgia Cocking, of Lisburn, Northern Ireland.

She underwent a transplant on April 5, and was given the all-clear to leave hospital in June.

Her mother, Debbie Cocking, said: "We were just over the moon. I can't really believe it. I'm still in shock."

Miss Frazier added: "Only a year ago Georgia's parents weren't sure whether she would see another Christmas Day after she was diagnosed with leukaemia. Her parents were told her only chance of long-term survival was a bone marrow transplant."

Anyone wishing to register or to find out more information can visit the website: www.anthonynolan.org.uk