'Please help save my dad, he is everything to me'

A family is appealling for a stem cell donor to help a man with a rare and aggressive blood cancer.

Philip Charlesworth, 61, from Plymouth, is battling cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

When his condition progressed to stage four his daughter Issey was initially considered as a donor, but doctors determined that a transplant from her would be too risky.

Miss Charlesworth, who is leading the appeal to help find a match, said her father "means absolutely everything to me".

The family is asking for unrelated donors to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register, particularly those with Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, due to Mr Charlesworth's mixed heritage of Irish, French and Jewish.

Mr Charlesworth is having chemotherapy at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

He told BBC Radio Devon: "It's very difficult to maintain a normal lifestyle.

"Sleep is interrupted because you're always feeling very itchy. It's almost like having severe sunburn.

"And then, in the latter stages, which I unfortunately find myself now, at stage four, you start developing raised plaques, skin tumours, and it can then progress into the internal organs, particularly the spleen and the liver."

UK stem cell transplant charity Anthony Nolan said anyone aged 16-30 can join the stem cell register, which involves a cheek swab and, if a match is found, a blood donation in which stem cells are filtered out in most cases.

Mr Charlesworth's family said the wait for news of a match had taken an emotional toll on the entire family.

His wife Alison, a nurse, said: "It's terribly upsetting, but you have to be brave and strong.

"We have amazing doctors caring for Philip, but we know a stem cell transplant is his best hope now."

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