Leo Sproson is a 16-year-old from Bromsgrove, England.

In many ways, he is a completely normal teenager – he loves gaming and Virtual Reality; he has a close group of friends and he recently began studying electrical engineering at college. But he has also received a devastating leukemia diagnosis, and his family are searching for a stem cell donor who could give him, or others like him with blood cancer, a second chance at life.

His mum Jenna says, “Leo is so happy all of the time. He takes every day as it comes and is never down – even on tough days he’s always joking and smiling. He has a great sense of humour, and he never fails to make me and the family laugh. Everybody loves Leo, he’s such a character.”

“Leo is my whole world. He’s my mini me, my greatest joy, and he deserves a second chance at life. Watching him face this fight with such courage breaks my heart, but it also fills me with pride. He deserves so much more than this struggle, he deserves a future,” adds Leo’s dad, Warren.

However, for the past few years, Leo has also been struggling with serious health issues, which have recently taken a turn for the worst. Days after his 12th birthday, he was diagnosed with acute liver disease. He went into liver failure, but thankfully he pulled through. However, after this happened he developed some issues with his blood, which needed regularly monitored.

For the past two years, Leo has been stable and life was getting back to normal, but recently he started to feel much more tired. His family initially put this down to the long days on his new college course, but when he started getting unusually large bruises, his mum decided to bring him in for tests.

“Leo looked very pale, and my mother’s instinct told me he needed a blood test ASAP, something just was not right.” Jenna says. ”I took him to the doctors, and that same night we got a call advising us to get Leo to the hospital right away. He went into Birmingham Children’s Hospital and immediately needed a blood transfusion.”

Within days, Leo was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a form of blood cancer. Jenna continues, “I remember the doctor telling me, and I just burst into tears in the hallways. My heart was broken, my world just fell apart. There is no way to describe the utter heartache. Leo is our only child and our best friend. I then had to be the one to tell him he had cancer at 16 years old. He actually took it much better than me and his dad, he was quiet for a while, but he’s determined to beat it, and he had us laughing again within a few hours.”

Leo’s medical team have said that he will need a stem cell transplant to treat his leukemia. For patients with blood cancer, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could be their only opportunity for recovery. Only one in three patients will find a match in their family, and unfortunately for Leo, his odds of a family match are very low, as he has no siblings. This means that he is relying on finding a match from a complete stranger who has signed up the stem cell donor register, but just 7% of the eligible population in the UK are signed up.

Leo’s family is now working to encourage more people to register as potential stem cell donors. Signing up is a simple process, involving just a few health questions, and some cheek swabs. Once you are on the register, your swabs will be tested to find out if you are a match for a patient. At any one time, there are around 2,000 people in the UK waiting for their match, including Leo.

Most people will never be called to donate, but if you are matched to a patient, nine out of ten times the donation can be completed through a simple outpatient procedure, similar to donating blood platelets. DKMS will support donors through the entire process.

Jenna says, “Our hope is that Leo finds a stem donor as soon as possible so that his suffering can end sooner rather than later. He’s already finished one round of intense chemo and it was tough for him, and for us as parents to watch. There aren’t enough words to describe how important it is to join the register. It isn’t until you need it you realise how important it is to sign up. You have the potential to literally save a life, and there is someone out there will be able to save our only child’s life. He deserves to live a full and fulfilling life, and when he gets better, it will all be thanks to a stranger donating their stem cells.”

DKMS UK spokesperson, Bronagh Hughes, says, “For Leo, the right person joining the register could give him his life back. The process is very simple, it’s so easy to give someone a second chance. You could be the match that Leo, or someone else like him, is waiting for.”