Cruz appeals for more bone marrow donors

HOLLYWOOD star Penelope Cruz urged the public to register as bone marrow donors as she visited an eight-year-old boy battling leukaemia.

Christmas came early for Joe Cawse from Maidstone, Kent, who needs a donor, when he met Cruz.

The star is joining the Anthony Nolan Trust’s national campaign to encourage people to give the gift of life this Christmas by going on to the charity’s bone marrow register.

The trust arranged the meeting between Cruz and Joe after the actress met their courier on a bone marrow mercy dash for another UK youngster, on a flight from Madrid to London.

Cruz wanted to help other patients who could not find donors. She met Joe while filming in London.

She said: “There are two different ways to donate your bone marrow and the second way is a much easier, less invasive process than I had ever imagined. I urge you please, please register to be a donor with the Anthony Nolan Trust,” the star said.

Each year more than 1,300 patients in Britain search for a suitable bone marrow donor but because individual genetic make-up is so varied the chances of finding a suitable donor are slim. Fewer than 30% of people needing bone marrow transplants find a match within their family, the rest depend on the generosity of strangers.