A preschool aged boy from South Africa has been given the gift of life thanks to the kindness of a woman from Swindon.

Debbi Long, 51, from Swindon recently made the choice offer a total stranger with blood cancer a second chance at life by donating some of her stem cells.

This happened after she signed up to the stem cell register held by blood-cancer charity DKMS.

She said: "I first heard about the stem cell register through ‘Finn the Fabulous’ on Facebook – he’s a young boy who has had two successful stem cell transplants and is now campaigning to encourage more people to register as stem cell donors.

“I started following Finn and his family’s story during lockdown, and was so moved by it that I decided to register with DKMS.”

DKMS holds the country’s largest register of stem cell donors, but there’s an urgent need for more people to sign up as every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer.

Joining the DKMS stem cell register is a quick and easy process involving a mouth swab, which can be completed at home.

Anyone aged 17 – 55 years who is in general good health can register to receive a mouth swab kit online at: www.dkms.org.uk/register.

Debbi was then contacted by DKMS to say she was a match for someone needing a transplant.

In approximately 90% of cases, donating stem cells is a very simple outpatient procedure known as PBSC, which is similar to donating blood platelets.

Due to the needs of her anonymous recipient, Debbi was asked to donate via bone marrow, which gathers a more concentrated form of stem cells.

This in-patient surgical procedure, conducted under general anaesthesia, involves inserting a needle through two small incisions in the pelvic bone to extract liquid marrow with stem cells.

The process takes one to two hours.

“I wasn’t bothered either way – whether I donated my stem cells via PBSC or bone marrow – if it meant giving someone a chance, it seemed a small thing to do,” she said.

Strict regulations protecting the anonymity of donors and recipients immediately following a donation mean that Debbi currently knows almost nothing about the patient her stem cells went to – only that he is a preschool aged boy from South Africa.

“It’s quite emotional to think about his family and what they’re going through,” she said. “I’m going to get a card and present to send him and I would love to know more about my recipient, when I’m allowed to.”