A Kenton woman whose life was saved by an anonymous stem cell donor three years ago has received the heartbreaking news that her leukaemia has returned.

Sharon Berger, who recently celebrated her 65th birthday, and her family must now find another donor.

However, finding a suitable donor for a bone marrow transplant is much more complicated than for blood, even more so in ethnic minorities – Sharon is of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

“It’s not been successful - her body has rejected it so we need to look elsewhere,” said son Jonni.

“It was a great shock because you get used to the good times. She had just regained a fairly normal life.”

When Sharon was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2012, children Jonni and Caroline started a campaign urging potential donors to join the bone marrow register so that a match might be found.

Using the hashtag #Spit4Mum they not only succeeded in securing a donor for their mother but also for other patients.

They also held donor recruitment events across London, the UK and beyond to raise awareness of the lack of representation for ethnic minorities on the donor register.

“We found matches for other people - it’s great to be able to help out,” said Jonni.

“We hope it makes more people sign up. The aim of the campaign is that there is a match for everyone.

“It’s much more complex than blood type. Only about a third of people find a donor from their siblings, and ethnic minorities are even less well represented.”

Sharon is now back in hospital receiving chemotherapy treatment.

“She’s been back in hospital a week and we are visiting every day, just trying to keep her hopes up.

“I am hopeful because we had such amazing support from the general public last time.

“We’re giving it our best shot, and we’re really grateful for everybody’s support.”

British-based blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan has been searching the stem cell registers of the world for someone whose tissue type matches Sharon’s but has so far been unsuccessful.

The charity said in a statement: "To join our register you must be aged between 16 and 30, in good health and weigh at least 50kg. We are particularly looking for people from Jewish and other ethnic minority backgrounds to join, as they are currently underrepresented on the donor register."

UK residents can sign up to the register by visiting the Anthony Nolan website.