A young man who is battling cancer is appealing to Bradford's Asian community to help save his life.

Zahir Kazmi desperately needs a bone marrow transplant to cure him of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a rare type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes.

The 23-year-old, of Canterbury Aven-ue, has already been through two courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But now his best chance of beating the disease is if a matching bone marrow donor can be found. Unfortunately no family members are suitable, so the net is being cast wider to the district's Asian community.

For a successful match, the donor must be from the same ethnic group . There will be a recruitment clinic on Wednesday, February 4, at Karmand Community Centre in Barkerend Road, Bradford, from 5pm to 9pm to boost the number of Asians, especially men, on the bone marrow register.

Megan Godden, donor recruitment officer for the Anthony Nolan Trust, the charity which searches for donor matches, said: "This is an important community event. We are looking for local people from the Asian communities willing to save the lives of others by donating their healthy bone marrow or blood stem cells to those suffering from life-threatening diseases."

Zahir first found a small lump in his neck when he was 20. It was initially believed to be nothing, but when it began to grow he was referred by his GP to Bradford Royal Infirmary where a biopsy confirmed it was cancer.

He was told there was a 97 per cent chance of survival and started on a course of chemotherapy.

Unfortunately that was unsuccessful and he was transferred to St James' Hospital at Leeds where he began a high-dose course of chemotherapy.

"That is a time in my life I will never forget," he said. "The treatment at BRI was painful but at St James's it made me cry. I could not even put on a brave face, it was such a bad feeling."

His weight plummeted to eight stone and he could not do even the smallest task himself. He lost all his hair and his friends did not recognise him.

The chemotherapy was followed by a course of radiotherapy and a scan revealed Zahir was in the clear. From March to September last year, he believed he had beaten the disease but the lump in his neck returned and on October 16 he was told the cancer had returned. "For a few months everyone was in high spirits," he said. "It was shocking having to tell my family all over again. They were blown away."

Zahir is aware his chances of finding a match are lessened because not enough people from ethnic communities are on the bone marrow register.

"A lot of people from Asian communities are unaware of the importance of giving blood and committing to the Anthony Nolan register," he said. "Some people, due to religious beliefs, think it is wrong. But when a life is involved that should be put aside.

"Hopefully there will be a match, but if there isn't other people's lives could be saved and I would be more than happy with that." Volunteers must be aged 18 to 40, in good health, over eight stone and willing to donate stem cells or bone marrow to any patient they match, at any time.