Cricket family asked to help in Sheffield teenager's search for a stem cell donor

Haris Hussain, a promising left-hander who has represented Yorkshire at several age-group levels, is in urgent need of a donor after being diagnosed with leukaemia in March

The family of Sheffield teenager Haris Hussain is asking the cricket world to join the stem cell donor register and potentially save the young wicketkeeper-batsman’s life.

Haris, a promising left-hander who has represented Yorkshire at several age-group levels, is in urgent need of a donor after being diagnosed with leukaemia in March.

The 18-year-old had been on trial with Leicestershire’s academy and was due to go on a pre-season tour to Spain when he began showing viral symptoms. Within 10 days he had been admitted to Royal Hallamshire Hospital to begin treatment for blood cancer.

The series of events has left Haris’ friends and family in a state of shock.

His mum, Caroline, told The Cricketer: “I’m not sure we have (got over the surprise of the diagnosis). I’m not sure we ever will. It’s a bit like jumping on a rollercoaster; you can’t get off it.

“We’re taking each day as it comes.

“Everyone has been great in their own way. His mates have kept him going when he’s not wanted visitors by messaging him and keeping him in the loop with the outside world.

“If he’s said ‘I fancy a chocolate bar’, he’s had 10 within minutes.

“So many people have sent us messages of goodwill and prayers, and it makes such a difference.

^{Haris Hussain has represented Yorkshire at age-group levels}

“I never thought I’d say anything like this because I always thought it was a bit of tosh but it really does help to know your support is wide-reaching and everyone is willing and hoping for a good outcome for us.

“It really does keep you going during the darker days.”

In the month-and-a-half since Haris' diagnosis there have been some positive developments - Haris reacted well to chemotherapy, an interim bone marrow biopsy on April 29 showed no further leukaemia cells present and doctors granted him day release to watch his club side Wath in a T20 last Sunday - but tests have shown that the youngster will need another round of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant if he is to make a full recovery.

“We really need people to get swabbed and get onto either the DKMS or Anthony Nolan registers,” Caroline said.

“It literally is three minutes, swabbing your cheeks, leaving the swabs to dry and sending them back in a free envelope. That could match up with Haris or someone else in our position and you could be that person’s match.

“That could change his life.”

Nine out of 10 donations are taken in a similar way as a standard blood sample, though the stem cells are removed and the blood returned, while one in 10 will require a minor operation under general anaesthetic.

Although there are more than 27million names on the global stem cell donor register, many people in the UK cannot find a suitable match.

A swab drive at a recent Sheffield United football fixture added more than 100 new names, however, and the Hussain family is hopeful that a similar initiative at Headingley on the day of England’s one-day international against Pakistan will generate more potential donors.

Haris had hoped to be present at that game but will now be required to return to hospital for further treatment, with friends and family representing him in his place.

“He’s quite tired and as much as he wants to do things he is still a little limited,” Caroline said.

“He can’t go around anyone with a cough or a cold, he can’t go around big crowds and he can’t do quite as much as his brain thinks he can do.”

Haris' best chance of finding a suitable donor is likely to come from a person from similar, mixed-race ethnic heritage.

You can apply for a swab kit by clicking here.

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