The family of young Adeline Davidson is to host a donor drive in Inverness in search of a stem cell match for their youngest daughter.
Three-year-old Josie was diagnosed with the rare genetic mutation dnajc21.
The youngster shares the same condition as her five-year-old sibling Adeline, who underwent a bone marrow transplant last year.
The Alness family-of-five are now preparing to hold a donor drive next weekend as they begin their new search for a stem cell donor.
A virtual drive has already been held for Josie on DKMS’s website, the international not-for-profit bone marrow donor center based in Tübingen in Germany, with more than 120 people signed up.
Mum Steph Davidson, 28, says they need to find a perfect match to secure a successful outcome – in the eventually that Josie needs to undergo a bone marrow transplant in the future.
She said: “At the moment she is stable. There are abnormal cells but they are not cancerous cells. There is no telling what time that will change or if it is going to change so we need that back-up.
“What the doctors have said is basically we need to find a 10/10 match or we can’t do anything until it gets worse or it progresses.
“She’s only got one 9/10 match but they have said because it is such a rare thing that we are dealing with, they would only really do a transplant if there was a perfect match.
“It takes one person somewhere to sign up and hopefully we can find a 10/10 so at least we have that back-up if they do want to do it and think it will be successful rather than waiting.
“I think if we wait longer, and say it progresses into leukemia, it drops your success rate of transplant to 40% which is quite a lot to drop.”
‘Just go for it’
The drive, which is being held in conjunction with DKMS, will take place at Bught Park on Saturday, June 25.
Mrs Davidson added: “There are so many rare conditions out there as well as the most common cancers. I think its around one in three people that end up needing a bone marrow transplant.
“So many people get diagnosed with these things everyday, it takes one person to be the matching donor and you save a life.
“Just go for it, its easy. Its a simple swab.”