Desperate plea for donors

Four year old Bailey Cooper is relying on the goodwill of strangers to help save his life. He needs a bone marrow transplant.

But for Bailey and others like him the chances of finding a match are slim. Only 50% of people in need of a bone marrow transplant actually get one. That's down to the relatively small number of people who have signed up to the blood stem cell donor register.

The blood cancer charity, Anthony Nolan, says 4% of donors on the register are from our region.

For Bailey it means all he can do is wait for a match. It's the second time he's been diagnosed with Leukemia and his survival chances after his chemotherapy are only 30%, even then he still needs to find a match.

• Someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer every 20 minutes.

• There are currently 1,600 people in the UK waiting for a stem cell (or bone marrow) transplant, and over 37,000 people worldwide.

• For those in need of a stem cell transplant, this is usually their last chance of survival

• There are currently over 440,000 people on the Anthony Nolan register, but the charity can only find a match for around half the people who come to them

• Men age 18-30 make the best donors yet account for just 12% of the register

• For details of how to join the register visit Anthony Nolan