A Tillingham man has donated his bone marrow in an attempt to save the life of a young child.

Ian Keppel, 44, a depot engineer for Essex Buses based in Chelmsford joined the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust about 18 years ago when the Round Table did a drive to recruit potential donors in the village.

The opportunity to help save a life came up after extensive testing in February this year when Ian's bone marrow was harvested under general anaesthetic at the London Clinic and given to an anonymous leukaemia patient from America the same day.

"All I have been told is that the patient was a young American boy weighing 10kg and that the marrow transplant would be his last chance of survival," said Ian.

He recently heard that the preliminary tests showed that so far the results have been positive.

Asked whether he would consider donating again, Ian said: "Definitely, I wouldn't need to think twice about it."

The marrow was taken from the back of Ian's hipbone with a needle and syringe on the Tuesday morning and he was discharged the next day.

He returned to work a fortnight later and thanked his bosses and colleagues for their support and allowing him to have time off for the tests before the operation.

This year is the Silver Jubilee Year of the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust and area manager Bronwen Nicholls said: "We are determined to expand our register to 400,000 by the millennium."

Anyone who wishes to join the register undergoes a simple blood test and if you are aged between 18 and 40 and weigh over eight stone and are in excellent health, you too could become a volunteer.

Anyone interested should call 01371 811205 for more information.

Bone marrow donor Ian Keppel.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.