A MAN diagnosed with leukaemia has spoken of his gratitude after being given a lifesaving bone marrow transplant from a stranger.

Dad-of-one Kevin McDonnell, from Monk Fryston near Selby, was told he needed at urgent bone marrow transplant at the end of last year.

Following several rounds of chemotherapy Kevin, 53, was given the transplant from a Polish donor and has spent the first half of this year recuperating. Having completely lost his appetite, Kevin lost 6.5 stones and said he felt constantly tired and unwell until one day in May when he woke up feeling completely fit and healthy.

Now he is clear of cancer and says he has a completely new lease of life.

Kevin said: "It's great to get out and mix with people again and to do normal things. It's been a long 12 months but now things are looking really rosy.

"I look like a million dollars now and I feel like a million dollars."

Kevin, who will have three monthly check ups for the next 18 months, said he is incredibly grateful to his donor.

"I just can't wait to meet him," he said, "I'm allowed to start writing to him in two years. I can't thank him enough, he gave me a second chance at life. I'll probably cry when I see him.

"It's something you never dream will happen to you but when it does and someone puts their time forward to donate you couldn't feel more grateful."

Kevin, an engineer, learned he had cancer when he and his wife Fiona took a trip to Oxford to celebrate their first anniversary in May 2014.

After he was admitted to Oxford Hospital he was given the news that he had leukaemia and would require urgent treatment.

He is urging people to join the Anthony Nolan register: "Please sign up. You will save someone's life eventually. They are looking for more and more donors."

Jo Buckton, from Anthony Nolan, said: “What many people don’t realise is how easy it is to join the bone marrow register – it simply involves filling in a form and providing a saliva sample. Ninety per cent of donations take place via PBSC (peripheral blood stem cell collection). This is an outpatient appointment and is similar to donating blood.”

To join the register, you must be aged between 16 and 30, weigh more than 7st 12lbs (50kgs) and be in general good health.

For more information about Anthony Nolan’s work or to sign up online, please visit www.anthonynolan.org