A top specialist has warned a nine-year-old Bradford girl's days are numbered unless a life-saving bone marrow donor is found.

A special testing session will be held on Monday to find a bone-marrow match for Mubinah Akram, of Scotchman Road, Heaton, who suffers from Fanconis Anaemia, a rare disorder which affects the immune system.

Her only hope of survival is a bone-marrow transplant, but doctors have warned that the youngster's condition is deteriorating rapidly and time is running out.

Dr Sally Kinsey, consultant paediatric haematologist at St James's Hospital, Leeds and head of the Yorkshire bone-marrow transplant programme, today urged as many people as possible to attend the potentially life-saving session.

"Mubinah's bone marrow is beginning to run out of steam now and this donor session is really her last chance.

"If we can't find a match her days are numbered - this is life-saving treatment. We need as many people as possible to go along as possible and if they can't help Munibah they may be able to help someone else."

Mubinah's sister Misbah also believes this could be her last chance. She said: "I see this as a last chance for Mubinah, but we have to give it a try. We don't want to look back in years to come and say we didn't do enough to help."

Next week's session has been set up with the help of the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow trust. The chances of finding a donor from the Asian community are much higher because they are more likely to have the same tissue type. But there are very few Asians on the donor list.

The donor session will be held at Margaret McMillan First School, Scotchman Road, between 4pm and 8pm.

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