Brierley Hill teen battling leukaemia in race against time to find bone marrow donor

Omar Al-Shaikh, 16, of Brierley Hill, is being treated at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital for acute myeloid leukaemia and is undergoing chemotherapy to prepare him for the transplant.

A suitable donor needs to be found by the time the treatment is finished in three months time.

But the teenager's hunt for a potential lifesaver is complicated by the fact he has an unusual ethnic heritage, being half-Romanian and half Middle-Eastern.

His mother Mirabela has launched a desperate plea for potential stem cell donors to join the Anthony Nolan register.

She said: "Think how you would feel if it were your child - you would want everyone to sign up. It is an easy thing to do and you could save a life."

Omar was diagnosed with leukaemia after falling ill last spring.

He had always been a very active teenager, involved in the Air Cadets and playing a lot of sport. But he began to complain of headaches and tiredness.

His condition deteriorated and his mother took him to the GP after he fainted playing football.

He was sent to hospital for tests and was given the diagnosis.

Mirabela said: "It was a big shock. I didn't want to believe it. I was very upset. I was expecting to be told he just had an infection."

The teenager spent the summer at Birmingham Children's Hospital where he had four cycles of chemotherapy before being told the cancer was in remission.

It was believed his chance of a relapse was low and he returned to school, started to plan his college applications and began dating a new girlfriend.

But, just a few weeks ago he developed a temperature and tests revealed the cancer had returned and was very aggressive.

Mirabela said: "It was terrible and it was also a big shock for Omar.

"He is really ambitious and was looking at going to study engineering at college so he was very angry when he learned his leukaemia had come back. He is in shock."

His doctors have asked Anthony Nolan to search the bone marrow donor registers to look for potential matches as tests have revealed that his 12-year-old sister, Dana, is not a suitable match.

Ann O'Leary, Head of Register Development at Anthony Nolan, said: "Anthony Nolan is currently looking for a matching donor for Omar and we are supporting his family in calling for more potential donors to join the register.

"It is particularly important that young men and people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds sign up as they are currently underrepresented on our register."

People aged 16 to 30 and in good general health can join the Anthony Nolan register at www.anthonynolan.org