The family of a young leukaemia sufferer are overjoyed after a potentially life-saving bone marrow donor was found.

After appeals in the Wandsworth Borough News, over 600 people turned up to a clinic this month to be tested for possible tissue matches with 24-year-old Henry Scot-Simmonds, from Clapham.

The Haselrigge Road resident will have a bone marrow transplant in October, and he even hopes to be back at work after Christmas.

Sister Georgina, 26, said: “It’s a massive relief, although we still have a fight. It doesn’t mean he’s definitely going to get through it, but he has the best possible chance now.”

The clinic, held on September 2 in central London, ran out of blood sample bottles because it was only expecting 400 people.

People from all walks of life arrived after reading about Mr Scot-Simmonds in the newspapers, and the surplus people had to be tested by their GPs.

Family were distraught when they discovered only months ago he had a strain of leukaemia so aggressive that only a transplant would save his life.

They were all tested for a bone marrow match but the results came back negative and a global search for a donor began.

Robert Spigel from the Anthony Nolan Trust, which ran the clinic, said: “We are really delighted about Henry. But he is just one of 16,000 people around the world who still need a bone marrow transplant. It’s often their last hope of life.”

The trust runs a register matching people who need transplants with potential donors, and initially only a blood sample is required.

It is calling for more people from ethnic minorities, particularly men, to sign up as there is a shortage of these tissue types.

• For information and to sign up call the Anthony Nolan Trust on 020 7284 1234 or visit anthonynolan.org.uk