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Boy beats phobia to save life of sick sister

(The Scotsman 08/11/2009)

A SCHOOLBOY has overcome his phobia of needles to give his older sister a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Jack Hutchinson, aged nine, has been singing Beatles hit Help! to get him through the blood tests for next month's operation to help his teenage sister. Shannon, 13, first became ill last year and, while her parents initially feared meningitis, she was eventually diagnosed with rare aplastic anaemia. She was warned that without a transplant she could have just six months to live.

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Fighting on

(BBC 03/05/2009)

Yvette Gate has been waiting for a bone marrow donor for the last four years and her family know she is living on borrowed time. She has aplastic anaemia - where the bone marrow fails to produce red cells, platelets and white cells - and doctors have told her family that the only hope is a transplant. They hope a new campaign, started by journalist Adrian Sudbury, will help to change this by encouraging teenagers to join the register and donate.

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