A five-year-old girl’s heartfelt plea for a stem cell donor to save her life has seen thousands of people come forward — but a match is still to be found. Kaiya Patel, of Rickmansworth, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in March. She urgently needs a stem cell transplant to cure her of the aggressive disease, which affects bone marrow, compromising the immune system and blood. But her family said her chances for a transplant are “not good”, with Asian people having a significantly lower chance of finding a match than white Europeans. Kaiya’s parents Annu and Ruchit Patel, both 37, launched a national and international appeals for members of the South Asian community to have their blood tested to see if they could be a match. They said the campaign has seen 35,000 more Asian people register with blood charities, boosting their chances of finding a match for Kaiya.
