Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Eight-year-old waiting for a blood stem cell donation has finally found a match – his little sister

Three-year-old Charlotte and her big brother, Michael.
Three-year-old Charlotte and her big brother, Michael.

An eight-year-old waiting for a blood stem cell donation has finally found a match – his little sister.

Michael Gartshore is fighting a rare and potentially life-threatening condition called aplastic anaemia, a blood disease where all three blood cell types are deficient.

It means the condition can cause Michael to bleed uncontrollably and increases the risk of him picking up infections.

The youngster previously went through two blood transfusions a week but now he is taking a step in the right direction by getting platelets, which help form clots, every other week.

Michael was diagnosed with the condition in April and his family have been waiting since then to find out if his three-year-old sister, Charlotte, is a potential match for a blood stem cell donation.

Now they have been told that Charlotte could potentially save her brother, as she is an exact match.

Mum Tracey, from Rosyth, Fife, said: “Although she can be used as a donor, there will be extra risks attached to it meaning they both could get ill.

“At the news we were glad for Michael but terrified for Charlotte.

“She’s only three and it’s scary being told that you have to put an additional child at risk to save the first one that fell sick.

“It’s a no-brainer – it saves Michael’s life but it’s also horrible for Charlotte as she’s to go through her own journey now.”

As Charlotte is so young, Michael will also be at risk because her immune system has not been exposed to the CMV virus her brother has.

This means that if Michael has the stem cell transplant, he will have a completely new immune system, which, combined with the chemotherapy that forms part of the treatment, makes him even more vulnerable to viruses.

However his mum revealed that doctors were “encouraged” that his haemoglobin levels are holding at a normal level, which could mean something is changing in his bone marrow – perhaps even sparing him from the transplant.

The 32-year-old said: “If Michael can recover without a transplant then it’s the best outcome but sadly this might not pan out.”

In the meantime, they hope Michael will be able to get to school part-time to be with his friends. To follow Michael’s journey, or support the family-of-six, visit www.gofundme.com/wee-michaels-journey