THE family of an eight-month-old baby is calling on young people to step up to the challenge in an attempt to save his life.

Danny Bryan, who needs a blood stem cell – often known as bone marrow – transplant to stay alive, was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, which means he cannot fight infection.

Doctors have told his mother, Claire Bryan, 26, that he will not survive childhood without a transplant, but the speed of his deterioration has come as a shock to the family.

His mother said: “We knew that it would hit him one day, but we had no idea it would be so quick.

“Wiskott-Aldrich usually starts to affect children when they are one or two years old, but the doctors have told us Danny is a particularly severe case.

“He’s in hospital at the moment as he’s had a virus which his immune system just can’t fight off and is having specialist treatment to try to get things under control.

“We know that the quicker he has a transplant the better for him and, thankfully, a couple of possible matches have come up with the Anthony Nolan charity. We’re just praying that one of these comes off.”

The family, of Keats Road, Normanby, is holding a donor recruitment day with the charity, which matches people with donors willing to donate their blood stem cells for transplant, at an event at Middlesbrough Football Club on Tuesday, July 10.

Joining the register is very simple. Donors aged 18 to 40 fill in a medical questionnaire and provide a saliva sample.

They are then added to the register and notified if they come up as a life-saving match for someone who needs a transplant.

His mother added: “It petrifies you. When he became sick, we just didn’t know what to do, what to expect. We are just so thankful that there is a register of people willing to donate their stem cells to save Danny’s life. Even if they are not a match for Danny, I can’t urge people enough to sign up and give other people the same hope.”

The event will be held at Middlesbrough Football Club, from 3pm to 8pm. Donors can also sign up online at anthonynolan.org or by calling 0303-303-0303.

Support Danny online at facebook.com/pages/Dannys Appeal