Plea for marrow donors

A desperately ill five-year-old boy, whose parents won the right to create a "saviour sibling" to treat him, appealed to the public yesterday to become bone marrow donors.

A desperately ill five-year-old boy, whose parents won the right to create a "saviour sibling" to treat him, appealed to the public yesterday to become bone marrow donors.

Zain Hashmi, from Leeds, who suffers from a rare blood disorder called beta thalassaemia, opened a conference in London which aims to address the lack of ethnic and mixed race bone marrow donors in the UK and throughout the world.

About 360,000 volunteers are registered with the Anthony Nolan Trust -9,159 Asian and 8,522 Afro-Caribbeans. The aim is to get 20,000 people from minority ethnic backgrounds to sign up within a year.

Conference organisers aim to set up an annual international blood and bone marrow awareness week. More information is at www.anthonynolan.org.uk