Mother's plea for donors to help save son Dillan's life

The mother of a four-year-old boy who needs an urgent bone marrow transplant has made a desperate plea for donors to help save her son's life.

Dillan was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of one during the first coronavirus lockdown in May 2020.

His mother Amy, from Manchester, said he had been responding well to treatment but a bone marrow transplant was now his only chance of survival.

She has urged the public to take a test to find out if they are a match.

"The test takes ten minutes and you could save my son's life," she said.

The mother-of-two said she had first noticed something was wrong with Dillan when he started limping.

"I took him to the doctors and they said it was probably just a sprain and it would likely heal up within two weeks," she said.

"It didn't and it got worse and then he just didn't want to walk at all."

After taking Dillan to another doctor, the toddler was then referred to A&E where blood tests revealed he had leukaemia.

"I felt like I'd been hit by a bus but we remained positive," the 35-year-old said.

Dillan started on a three-year course of treatment which the family were told had a 93% cure rate.

"He was in remission within four weeks," she said.

She added that he was doing so well that two years in he was able to stop the treatment.

The family started to plan their first holiday together and think about Dillan going to school "like all the other little children".

But in August they received the news that Dillan had relapsed.

Amy said the call from the hospital had been her "worst nightmare" and she "cried for two days".

She said Dillan's only chance of survival was now to find a bone marrow match and to have the procedure by October.

His family, including his two-year-old sister Aiyla, have been tested but are not a match.

Her plea is being supported by celebrities including actor Michelle Keegan and TV personality Mark Wright who have shared Dillan's appeal online.

Manchester City footballer John Stones has also shared his support on Instagram and attended a testing event at Manchester City's Etihad stadium.

Amy said taking the free test was the "quickest and easiest way to save someone's life, if not Dillan's then someone else in desperate need".

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