Cancer patient wins transplant battle against Home Office to allow Nigerian sister into UK

A mother has won her battle against the Home Office to allow her Nigerian sister into the country - so she can undergo a blood stem cell transplant.

May Brown,from Weymouth in Dorset, has acute Myeloid Leukaemia and without a transplant, would die.

Despite this, her sister, who is a perfect match, was initially declined a visa to travel to the UK.

Campaigners said the application was originally rejected over fears May's sister would not have enough money to fund her stay in the UK and would not return to Nigeria when her visa expired.

May has pledged to fund the visit, and said her schoolteacher sister, who has two children in their native Nigeria, has "no desire" to relocate to the UK.

Now a petition, signed by more than 60,000 people, has been heralded a success, after the Home Office made a U-turn, allowing May's sister into the country.

The decision was overturned by the immigration minister when leading blood cancer charity ACLT - African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust - launched an appeal last week.

May's sister is the only suitable match, found after what doctors at King's College Hospital in London, confirmed was "an extensive search" for another donor.

The mum, who has a two-year-old daughter Selina-May with her ex-soldier husband Mike, is currently receiving her second round of intensive chemotherapy at King's College Hospital.