A FIVE-year-old boy with a rare genetic condition has finally found a bone marrow donor match after a global search.

Alastair Kim was first diagnosed with the life-threatening condition chronic granulomatous disorder (CGD) in February 2016.

Ever since parents Judy and Andrew Kim, who live near Longworth, have been appealing for help to find a bone marrow stem cell donor to cure the disorder, which wipes out Ally's immune system, meaning even the most minor infections leave him seriously ill.

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Now, after registering more than 10,000 new donors and holding around 150 donor drives, a match has been found in China.

The youngster, who is in reception at Manor Prep, is due to start chemotherapy to prepare him for the new bone marrow stem cells this week and then, if all goes to plan, he will have the transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Oxford Mail:

Mr Kim, 40, explained it had been especially hard to find a match for Ally as he and his wife were of Korean descent. This meant a matching donor would most likely be of Korean, Japanese or Chinese heritage, but the number of East Asians on international donor registers is very small.

He said: "We got the call around the end of November that they thought they had found a match on the Chinese National Registry.

"We wanted to make absolutely sure it was going to go through because it can be very different signing up to be a donor and then being told you've matched with someone."

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If the transplant is successful Ally will still need to stay in hospital for around four months to ensure he does not catch any infections and that the transplant has been fully accepted by his body.

His mum Judy, a scientist who works at Oxford University and the Diamond Light Source in Harwell, will stay with him throughout, while Mr Kim looks after Ally's older brother Micah, who is eight years old.

In a post on December 31 on Facebook page Ally’s Fight, which the family have used to document their efforts, Mr and Mrs Kim described the news as the ‘greatest Christmas present ever', adding: “We always believed that if we did our part, somewhere around the world, Ally’s match would pop up from others also working hard."

Oxford Mail:

The family added their thanks and said: “We are so grateful to everyone who has helped, donated, sent us love and encouragement, and of course our donor.”

Mr Kim said though the family were pleased the 'first hurdle' had been cleared there was still a 10 per cent chance the transplant would not work.

He added: "Because it's so common now people don't think it has a risk but it does and that is hard for us. At least now though we have the chance to have the condition go away for good. CGD isn't like cancer were it could come back this will either work or it won't"

To sign up as a potential donor visit dkms.org.uk. Mr Kim said: "It only takes five minutes and you never know whose life you could save, even somewhere across the world like in our case."