AS MEDICAL student Michelle Olver heads back to university this week she is desperately hoping that someone in Bournemouth holds the key to her own medical future.

The 20-year-old has leukaemia and needs to find a compatible bone marrow donor to stand any chance of a full recovery.

The former Talbot Heath pupil and keen tennis player hopes members of the public will flock to a bone marrow clinic to be held at her local tennis club.

The Victoria Avenue Lawn Tennis Club in Winton is hosting the clinic in the hope it can help towards a cure for one of its most successful and popular players.

Michelle, whose parents Simone and Colin live in Cedar Avenue, Northbourne, has just started the third year of a medical degree at Cardiff University.

The clinic will be held by the Anthony Nolan Trust which holds a register of potential donors and aims to match them with sufferers of bone marrow diseases such as leukaemia, aplastic anaemia, metabolic disorders and immune deficiency disorders.

The clinic will be held from 4.30pm until 7pm on Friday, October 1, and organisers hope hundreds of people will attend.

To become a bone marrow donor you must be between 18 and 40, in good health and weigh more than eight stones.

Volunteers must be prepared to help anyone on the register if they are found to be a match and the organisation said it is particularly short of male donors and volunteers from ethnic minorities or of mixed race.

Details from the Trust hotline on 0901 88 22 234 or contact the tennis club on 01202 526566.

First published: Sept 9