A little boy desperately fighting a rare form of leukaemia today found the one person in the world who could save his life.

Five-year-old Billy Broxup has been found a perfect bone marrow match in his battle to beat acute myeloid leukaemia.

Consultants at St James's Hospital, Leeds, broke the good news to Billy's parents, Claire Broxup, 27, and James Farndale, 22, and told him only three people in the world had the same tissue type as the youngster.

One of the three was a 'ten out of ten' match.

Claire today made a public 'thank you' to the anonymous donor who could give her little boy the chance of a brighter future.

But Claire knows there will also be hard times for Billy.

"I am very happy but also very apprehensive. I know I will have to watch him go through it all.

"He has to get very poorly before he can get better and there is a possibility that he could not come through it, although I try not to think like that. We hope he is one of the lucky ones."

The transplant is booked for Friday, December 20, although for all of the previous week Billy, of Blackshaw Drive, Buttershaw, will be in hospital in preparation for the transplant.

Billy's own diseased marrow will be killed by an intensive course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, before the anonymous donor's marrow can be given to the youngster.

Following the operation, Billy will be kept in total isolation for eight to ten weeks, followed by a further four months of semi-isolation, when only his close family will be able to be with him.

It means that for the family, Christmas will be a time of worry, so they have decided to bring the festive season forward.

Victoria Broxup, of Buttershaw, Billy's aunt, said: "Billy will be celebrating Christmas early, probably in the first or second week of December.

"We hope to take him to see Blackpool Illuminations and squeeze in as much as possible before he goes into hospital.

"We still have a very, very long way to go, but at least we can now see light at the end of the tunnel, and we all have so much more hope now for a future for Billy."

And Victoria revealed their delight at finding the one person in the world who could help Billy.

"If this person had not been kind enough to spare a thought for the people he or she could be helping, then we would still have been looking, and might never have found a match," Victoria added.

Billy was first diagnosed with the life-threatening disease in September 2001. His family had to go through the agony of watching him go from a bright, lively boy to a shadow of his former self.

He underwent six months of chemotherapy and eventually was told the disease was in remission. But it returned and the family were told Billy would need a bone marrow transplant.

At first it was hoped his sister, Amy-Jo, eight, might be a match, but when tests proved negative, the family searched tirelessly to add new names to the Anthony Nolan Trust bone marrow register, in a bid to help Billy.

Just last weekend a special clinic was organised by the family at St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Primary School, in Wibsey, where hundreds of people turned up to add their names to the national register.

Victoria, said: "When I say it saves lives, this is no exaggeration, it does.

"We do not know where this donor has come from or who they are, but all we can do is say a silent thank you to them for giving Billy a chance of a life, and a chance of being able to live like a 'normal' little boy should."

Megan Godden, of the Anthony Nolan Trust, a registered charity which searches for donor matches, said: "We are always over the moon when someone finds a match, but it so difficult to find a match that there are still thousands of patients looking for a suitable bone marrow donor.

"That is why we still need people to join the register."

e-mail: claire.lomax@bradford.newsquest.co.uk