Bone marrow drive to help Coventry boy with aplastic anaemia

The colleagues of a teacher whose 12-year-old boy suffers with a rare blood disorder are due to be tested to see if they are a bone marrow match.

Paddy Igoe, from Earlsdon, was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, which requires frequent blood transfusions.

Staff at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, in Coventry, have rallied around his mother Donna Igoe and are due to host a public donor drive.

Previous testing has resulted in no matches being found.

Paddy failed to recover from a minor illness earlier this year and was then diagnosed with the condition while staying at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

The Aplastic Anaemia Trust said the condition affecting bone marrow, which doesn't produce enough blood cells, affects two in every one million people.

"I'm feeling really tired and lethargic all the time," he said.

"It will be really special [if a match is found] because I won't have to go through as much pain."

Tako Ngambi, 11, from Coventry, also suffers from the same condition.

Paddy's mother Ms Igoe added: "Our consultant said there are other people in the world with a a rare tissue type like Paddy.

"We want them to come forward so they can make a massive difference to Paddy's life."

Paddy's six-year-old sister Isabella was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy four years ago.

Her PCDH19 condition is the same as that of seven-year-old Alfie Dingley from Kenilworth.

The charity DKMS - an organisation that works in the areas of blood cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, based in Tübingen, Germany - will run the bone marrow screening day.

The donor drive, which is open to the public, will be held at the Coventry school on Friday 3 May.

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