There’s an emergency stem cell donor drive-in taking place to save Manchester child’s life

An emergency stem cell donor drive-in event is taking place in Manchester today to help save the life of a four-year-old boy.

Dillan Ramsey-Aksehir was diagnosed with Leukaemia just before his second birthday, and has been battling the disease ever since.

But last month, Dillan’s family were given the heartbreaking news that the cancer had spread to his spine, just twenty-four-hours after being told his treatment could finish early.

The youngster now urgently needs a bone marrow transplant and, as no match has been found on the existing UK stem cell donor database, his mum Amy has launched a campaign to encourage as many people as possible to join the DKMS register.

Amy Ramsey

The DKMS register is the biggest stem cell donor register in the UK, and has registered over 900,000 blood stem cell donors to date.

These donors have helped to give over 1,700 people a second chance at life by performing just simple swap tests on potential donors.

So today, people have been invited to go down to the Menagerie restaurant in Salford  to register as a donor with DKMS.

The restaurant and bar will have trained staff from DKMS on hand to carry out the painless cheek swabs and process the samples.

Amy Ramsey

Those who are a match will then hear from the charity within the coming weeks to continue with the next steps – all costs will be covered by DKMS.

The campaign has already seen celebrity support with Michelle Keegan, Mark Wright, John Stones, Nadine Merabi, Brooke Vincent and Cath Tyldsley all sharing videos and encouraging people to sign up.

The drive-in is taking place at Menagerie TODAY between 9am – 3pm, and can be found at One New Bailey in Salford.

And for more information on the cause, visit the DKMS website.