A THREE-year-old girl in desperate need of a stem cell transplant has a fighting chance of survival after more than 37,000 people signed up to donate bone marrow in one day.
Earlier this week the parents of Ava Stark received the news that she would miss out on a transplant for the second time in four months.
The child suffers from rare inherited bone marrow failure which could lead to her death if a match is not found soon.
Read more: Nurses warn of 'perfect storm' staffing crisis
A one-in-25 million match was found on the global register and an operation had been scheduled for July but was unable to go ahead.
And this week, a second match had to pull out of the operation for medical reasons.
But in just one day, 37,314 people signed up for a donation to bone marrow charities the Anthony Nolan Trust and DKMS (Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei) following another global appeal.
Her mother Marie, 33, from Lochgelly, Fife, is hopeful a 10 out of 10 identical genetic match can be found.
Read more: Nurses warn of 'perfect storm' staffing crisis
She said: “This won’t just be helping my little girl but literally thousands of others both now and in the future. You’re all heroes in our eyes.”
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