The family of teenager Josh Whiting are appealing for a donor to give him the bone marrow transplant he urgently needs.

Josh, 18, a former pupil of The Corsham School, was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia after falling ill in February.

His mother Heather, of Beechfield Road, Corsham, said: “He was a fit and healthy young man who had just left school and was looking forward to living his life to the full. In February of this year he felt slightly unwell and within a day had started to turn yellow.

“Josh now needs to have a bone marrow transplant as his bone marrow has not recovered with the treatment he has been having.

“Sadly for Josh out of all the hundreds of thousands of people on the donor list there is only one person who was partly a match but sadly not a good enough match to be a successful donor.

“The suitable person for Josh is out there somewhere and it could be one of your readers. We want to save his young life but we need their help.” ”

His older sister Lucie Whiting, 23, who works as a marketing co-ordinator, said: “If we did find a match there would be an 80 per cent chance that he’d be cured.”

Mr Whiting had initially been diagnosed with an inflammation of the liver and was confined to a wheelchair with a drip for up to 16 hours per day. Now his bone marrow is not producing sufficient new blood cells.

For more information on joining the Bone Marrow Registry call 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/bonemarrow