Young woman's urgent search for stem-cell donor after relapse of cancer

A young woman who mistook cancer symptoms as a side effect of her gym routine is urgently seeking a stem cell donor after her disease relapsed.

Asia Sharif, 24, has stage four Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer which develops in the lymphatic system, a network of vessels and glands throughout the body.

She was initially diagnosed in 2023 and was told she was in remission in April 2024.

However, two months later, medics confirmed her cancer had relapsed.

The award-winning software engineer, who grew up in Liverpool and now lives in Manchester, has been told a stem cell transplant may be her only chance of survival.

Ms Sharif is currently having chemotherapy at The Christie, but her half-Somalian and half-Moroccan heritage means it can be more difficult to find a match.

In partnership with the Anthony Nolan charity she has launched the Register for Asia campaign in a bid to encourage healthy 16 to 30-year-olds from all backgrounds to sign the stem cell register.

“It can be harder for people like me, who are from minority ethnic backgrounds, to find a match, that’s why I’m sharing my story, and hoping to inspire people to register,” Ms Sharif said.

“If you’re matched with someone in need, your stem cells could literally save their life.

“There are lots of good people in the world who genuinely want to make a difference and I think this is one way to really do that. It’s a blessing to save a life.”

Ms Sharif, who taught herself to code during the pandemic and now works as a software engineer for NatWest, started getting symptoms in November 2021 with itchiness that she put down to her gym routine.

“Before I got sick, I was just a normal person,” she said.

“I just enjoyed going to the gym, doing Pilates, walking in nature.

“Every weekend I would go to the mountains with my foster brother.

“I was itching like a crazy person, 24/7. I had bruises like all over my body, black bruises, purple bruises, pink bruises.”

Yasmin Sheikh, head of policy and public affairs at Anthony Nolan, said: “For patients from mixed and minority ethnic backgrounds like Asia, finding a match can be more difficult because they are more likely to have rare tissue types.

“That’s why it’s vital that more young people from minority ethnic backgrounds sign up to the Anthony Nolan stem cell register because every single person that signs up could give a patient like Asia a second chance at life.

“As a charity we’re also working hard on other actions that could help more patients access life-saving treatment, such as partnering with international registers and accelerating research into new treatments.”

There is information on how to sign the Anthony Nolan stem cell register on their website.