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A Belfast dad is pleading with young men across Northern Ireland to help his seriously ill daughter "put a good kick up cancer".

Sean Smyth has pledged to do whatever it takes to help "fantastic young" Eimear, 24, recover from blood cancer.

The family was devastated when Eimear was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma almost two years ago, but they were optimistic she would recover.

Sean, 54, said: "Doctors said it was one of the best cancers to get, we could beat this.

"Eimear responded really well to her first treatment and was given the all clear. She was told to go and enjoy her life."

Despite their optimism, Eimear has relapsed twice and and now needs a potentially lifesaving stem cell transplant.

Gutted to hear this week that her siblings are not a donor match, and having already undergone a failed transplant using her own cells, doctors have launched a worldwide search for possible donors.

Although most healthy people can donate, Sean explained men between the ages of 16 and 30 are considered to have the most powerful cells.

Hopeful that a match might be found close to home, the West Belfast man is on a mission to get people across Northern Ireland to join the stem cell donor register.

He hopes sport clubs and other organisations might provide the answer and has urged people to consider the "simple process" of registering as potential donors.

Although 27 million people are registered worldwide, he said Northern Ireland had a very low number of donors and made up just two per cent of UK donors.

He said the process involved a simple cheek swab that is placed on file until a match is found. He also emphasised that donors will not only be registering as a potential match for Eimear but would remain on the world-wide register until they are 60.

He said: "I appeal to GAA, rugby, cricket and athletics clubs, the Orange Order or flute bands as the marching season begins, to consider helping.

"The big trouble is the struggle to get young men to join the register.

"I want young lads to know it is a very simple process. You could be the one to help Eimear or a donor anywhere in the world might need your help."

Sean said he "never imagined" having to make a potentially lifesaving appeal for his daughter.

He said: "We cannot understand how a perfectly healthy and extremely fit young girl can get sick like this out of the blue.

"Eimear had just graduated and was just 22 when she got ill. Doctors don't know who will get it and why.

"There is no history of cancer on either side of the family. We are in pieces but she is a fantastic young woman, strong as anything and with a great sense of humour.

"We will do anything to put a good kick up cancer."

Eimear said months of chemotherapy and isolation had been "the worst thing ever".

She said she hoped her dad's Belfast Live appeal would raise awareness, particularly among "fit and healthy" young men who might be oblivious about crucial they could be.

She added: "I have to have faith in myself. I suppose it is like sitting an exam, I just have to put my head down and carry on until it is finished.

"We need to raise awareness among donors and assure them that the whole process, if they are a match, is as simple as giving blood."

The make-up artist, who will marry her fiancé Phillip Gooderham, 23, next Halloween, said she chose her wedding dress this week to cheer herself up.

She said: "Getting to the wedding is my big goal, I just need to find a donor match and get the transplant done first."

Stem-cell donors can register through www.anthonynolan.org or www.dkms.org.uk/en

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