30,000 join fight to save Margot after family plea
More than 30,000 people have come forward to help save the life of a little girl battling a rare form of leukaemia.
Margot Martini has inspired thousands of people to take a swab test to find her perfect stem cell donor.
Celebrities including Steve Bull, Martin Clunes and Gary Barlow are backing the campaign and a mass swabbing event will take place in Wolverhampton next month.
Margot's mother Vicki, from Essington, today urged people of the West Midlands to get behind them, saying: "This means everything to us."
Margot's family uploaded this heart-wrenching video to help find a donor
Margot's family has launched an online appeal to raise awareness of their little girl's plight. An online video has been seen by more than 60,000 people, while a Facebook group has almost 10,000 followers. More than 30,000 people have now come forward to be tested.
Vicki, 38, today launched an emotional plea for people to register as donors in the hope of finding a match for 17-month-old Margot.
"This has torn our world apart," said Mrs Martini. "This is always in the back of our minds. I went to see doctors with Margot at 2pm because I knew something wasn't right and by 2am she was in an induced coma and being treated for leukaemia."
Margot was 14 months old when she was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital have seen it three times in the past decade.
Medics say her best hope is a bone marrow transplant and the hunt is now on to find a perfect stem cell match. A Swab for Margot day is being held at the Mount Hotel in Tettenhall Wood on February 23.
Mrs Martini, who lives in London with her husband Yaser, 43, and sons Oscar, six, and Rufus, five, said: "Margot is beautiful. She is always smiling and gregarious." She wants to make friends with everybody and she knows how to too.
"She's very sociable and loves playing with her brothers."
But the former Cheslyn Hay High School pupil added: "This isn't just for Margot. People never know when they might find themselves needing a donor."
The swab day has been organised by Margot's aunt Charlotte Hathaway, of Tettenhall, who said: "We are searching all over the world to find the perfect match."
Register at www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk
