Angelo Clarke has a special reason for beaming with pride when his little sister takes to the Alhambra stage this week.

Angelo, 40, is fighting bone marrow cancer and thanks to his sister, Anna, 33, he hopes to have a second stem cell transplant. Anna was found to be a stem cell match and is going to be a donor.

She stars as Sally in the Bradford Catholic Players' production of Me and My Girl at the Alhambra starting tonight and Angelo has vowed to be there, despite fearing he wouldn't be well enough to make it.

"My immune system is damaged and I'm meant to stay out of large crowds in case of infection, but the doctors have said I can go," he said.

It was while he was performing at the Alhambra a year ago that Angelo realised he was ill.

A few months later he was diagnosed with myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, and undertook a course of chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant.

"I was playing the Pirate King in the Catholic Players' The Pirates of Penzance and I had back pain and felt really rundown," he said. "I just got on with it, it's amazing what adrenaline can do.

"I thought it was because I'm diabetic and a bit overweight and stressed, but I lost weight and still felt ill.

"Then the diabetic clinic noticed a problem with my blood levels and in March I was diagnosed with myeloma."

Angelo, of Pudsey, underwent a course of chemotherapy and was well enough to appear in a show, The Assassins, at Yeadon Town Hall in June.

"I felt full of beans, thanks to the treatment, and my back pain was down to a minimum," he said.

"Seven weeks ago I had a stem cell transplant and was in hospital for three weeks. I spent my 40th birthday in hospital and my wife, Helen, brought my Elvis costume in.

"I was sitting there in bed in full Elvis catsuit and shades - I couldn't eat birthday cake but it was certainly a memorable day!"

Now Angelo is awaiting news of a second transplant, after learning that Anna is a match. He hopes to be back at work at Fields Packaging in Clayton, where he is a packaging designer, early next year.

"Hopefully I can have the transplant in January or February," he said.

"I felt like a glass of lemonade that had lost its fizz. Now I'm getting my fizz back."

Angelo hopes to organise a fundraising concert next year for Myeloma Research. Anna, who plays Sally in Me and My Girl, recently joined a party of 25 from the Catholic Players for a Three Peaks walk which raised £3,000 for the cancer charity.

"I've been in the Catholic Players for five years and they're like a big family, the support they've given me this year has been overwhelming," said Angelo.

"I've been like a caged bear recently because I'm used to going to rehearsals three times a week but this year I couldn't do the show.

"But I've promised to make tea during one performance, I'm determined to be involved."

Anna said she was "thrilled" to be a donor. "The chances of a female being a match were quite slim so we're lucky it's gone our way," she said.

"I've got to have a series of injections but it's Angelo who will have the gruelling treatment. He's coped amazingly."

  • Me and My Girl runs at the Alhambra from tonight to Saturday. Tickets are available on (01274) 637349 or (01274) 432000.
e-mail: emma.clayton@bradford.newsquest.co.uk