The girl in the picture above is May Brown. She’s 23 years old, married to a British ex soldier, she’s the mum of two-year old year old Selina May, and she’s spent the last year and a half battling Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.



Doctors have said May’s only chance of survival is to receive a stem cell transplant from someone with a matching tissue type to her. Her Nigerian sister Martha is amazingly a 10 out of 10 match - but now the Home Office are refusing to give Martha a visa so she can come to the UK and give her sister the transplant she needs.



The whole trip from Nigeria to the UK will be paid for by May but the Home Office are still saying “I am also aware [sic] your sponsor proposes to finance your proposed trip, but I must take into account your personal and economic circumstances in Nigeria when coming to my decision.”



The visa refusal letter ends with “Given the above I am not satisfied that you are a genuine visitor and will leave the UK at the end of your visit or that you have sufficient funds available to cover your costs whilst in the UK without working or accessing public funds.” According to immigration rules it appears May’s sister Martha is too poor to visit England, and if she comes here she won’t leave.



Martha has no intention of staying in the UK, her whole life is in Nigeria - she has two little kids who will be looked after by their Grandma whilst she is in the UK donating her bone marrow. All she wants to do here is save her sister’s life.



I work for a blood cancer charity, the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, and for the last 9 months we have been working with May. Doctors at May’s hospital have said they are “running out of time” to perform the transplant.

Finding a 10 out of 10 stem cell match is incredibly rare, and having her sister come and do the transplant now is her only chance to ever get out of hospital and back home with her daughter.



It is heartbreaking to see unfair bureaucratic red tape being put in the way of saving a young mum’s life.



In hospital May said to me “Only a six hour journey will help save my life. My two year old daughter Selina needs me... To know my life isn't important to those who have the power to help me is deeply upsetting.”



I have seen campaigns, like the one for Andrea Gada and Isaac Aganozor get the Home Office and UK Visa and Immigration to issue visas on compassionate grounds before. I know that with enough public pressure and support for this petition we can convince them to show compassion now.



So please sign this petition and help us to get the decision by UK Visa and Immigration overturned. Please help us save May's life.