A little girl from Heston who was on the road to recovery from leukaemia has had a relapse and is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant.
Parents of Isabella Darmoo, aged three, have made a global appeal urging people, particularly the Assyrian community in the UK and abroad, to help save their daughter's life by registering as a donor on the bone marrow registry list in the hope of finding a match.
Melissa Michael-Darmoo, and husband Frank Darmoo, both in their 30s, of Westbrook Road in Heston, said in just six weeks their little girl Izzy, who has lost her hair again, will have finished her chemotherapy treatment and will require a transplant.
The 30-year-old mum-of-two said: "On July 21 Izzy relapsed and has since then been having heavy chemotherapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
"Izzy requires a bone marrow transplant soon but we don't have a match as she has an uncommon tissue type as she is from an ethnic minority.
"We want to ask people to register as a matter of urgency."
Izzy had a relapse in the fluid around her spine and has been an in-patient at Great Ormond Street Hospital for the majority of the last 10 weeks undergoing strong chemotherapy which will be followed by radiotherapy and then a bone marrow transplant.
The family have been doing everything they can to find a match and rcently held a remote donor drive through Delete Blood Cancer at the Assyrian House in South Ealing.
Mrs Michael-Darmoo added: "Since Izzy relapsed our family life has been torn again.
"Our lives are on standby as we wait to see what the day holds for us.
"Izzy is thank God in good spirits. She has had her days when she's down and unable to do much.
"We tell her that she has naughty blood and that the doctors are going to make it better.
"She thinks this is the "norm" as she doesn't know any different.
"We continue to act normal and we don't show that we are hurting inside. She doesn't need to know. As long as we are positive she will remain positive.
"We did not expect for izzy to relapse. We presumed with her having acute lymphoblastic leukemia that she would finish her treatment and we would put this all behind us."
It was in March last year, at just 18-months-old, Izzy was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).
What followed was a gruelling year during which Mrs Michael-Darmoo was forced to take unpaid leave which left the family struggling on one income with increased expenses on travelling to and from hospital and debts acculmated.
This prompted the couple to start an e-petition - Izzy's Wish (Giving Families Hope) - in March this year, in a bid to get the government to provide financial help for families with seriously ill children.
Once a match has been found Izzy will be in isolation for up to 10-weeks and won't even be able to see her big brother, four-year-old, Daniel.
Find out more about bone marrow registry at http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/bonemarrow/
Sign the petition at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/62727
Here are a list of sites around the world which you can register on. Register as a bone marrow/stem cell donor.
UK aged 16 - 30 www.anthonynolan.org
UK aged 18 - 55 www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk/en
USA - www.bethematch.org
Canada - https://www.blood.ca/CentreApps/Internet/UW_V502_MainEngine.nsf/page/E_ubmdrPKG-intro?opendocument&CloseMenu&p=OMSplashJoin
Australia - www.abmdr.org.au/abmdr2/
Germany - http://www.zkrd.de/en/about_the_zkrd/the_zkrd.php
Denmark - www.bmdw.org
