A mother-of-two is appealing to Merton’s Anglo-Burmese and south Asian communities to donate bone marrow and help her beat leukaemia.

Nikki Braterman, 45, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia last December, but because few people in the UK share Nikki’s mixed background, tissue matches are rare, so she is casting her net far and wide.

It could be the last chance for Mrs Braterman, whose mother is Anglo-Burmese and whose father is Irish.

Mrs Braterman's friend Martin Platt, who lives in Wimbledon, is helping to spread the word in a bid to get a donor match to come forward.

Mr Platt said: "Nikki and her family are in a terrible situation because the type of leukaemia she has - it’s called the ten-eleven translocation - it is so rare that her doctors are having to experiment with treatments to find out what works.

"And they can’t say how long she may live, so a bone-marrow transplant is urgent."

Mrs Braterman, who lives in Brighton, said: "As well as Anglo-Burmese and south Asian people, the doctors say I should also seek out people with Portuguese names like De Souza and De Castro, and there must be quite a few people with names like that in a city as big as London."

Mrs Braterman has suffered a double blow because she has complications in her genetic make-up that mean a standard marrow match is not enough.

To beat the disease, she must find a donor who is a perfect ten-out-of-ten match.

Her best chance of a cure is to have a bone marrow transplant.

So far, bone marrow registers in the UK have found no suitable matches.

Neither of Nikki’s brothers was a good enough match and a possible donor in France scored nine out of ten.

Her husband Geoff said: "The donor in France came so close, and it was heart-breaking when we heard he wasn’t quite a perfect match.

"Nikki is a mum to two small children, aged seven and four. The right donors are out there, perhaps in London, and we need to find them quickly.

"The children don’t want to lose their mother and I don’t want to lose my beautiful wife."

If you think you can help, visit Nikki’s website. 

If you are between 16 and 30 years-old, register as a bone marrow donor through the Anthony Nolan Trust, the British Bone Marrow Registry (for ages 18 to 50 years-old) or Delete Blood Cancer for those aged 18 to 55 years.