'It makes me happy I'm helping my sister'.

Byline: Abby Alford

JACK and his sister Shannon began putting up their Christmas decorations today in preparation for an early festive celebration.

For the siblings, their mum Georgina and dad Tony will be spending Christmas in hospital, waiting to hear if a lifesaving bone marrow transplant has been a success.

"We're going to have Christmas early and hopefully, we'll have a very happy New Year," said Georgina Hutchinson.

The news that Jack's bone marrow is a 10-out-of-10 match with his sister's marks the beginning of the end of an 18-month struggle for the family from Pen y Garn Road, Ely, Cardiff.

It began when Shannon, 13, a Michaelston Community College pupil, developed a rash that left her family fearing she had meningitis. But doctors discovered she had rare aplastic anaemia, which means her bone marrow does not produce enough red and white blood cells, leaving her anaemic and vulnerable to severe infections.

Last month her doctor warned she may have just six months to live if a donor was not found by the spring.

Despairing that bone marrow registers did not hold the details of a potential saviour, the family appealed in the Echo for other potential donors to come forward. Then Jack, who had resisted months of pressure and persuasion from his parents and doctors, stepped forward.

The Herbert Thompson Primary School pupil told the Echo: "One day my mum came home from the hospital and said Shannon could die. "The day after, she woke me up for school and I said I wanted to do the blood test."

Being a 10-out-of-10 match means Jack offers Shannon the best hope of recovery.

"I get on with my sister and it makes me feel happy that I'm helping her," he said. Georgina, 33, said: "Shannon was in hospital because she was vomiting and sick. The doctor came and showed me these two bits of paper with all these figures on. The one piece of paper was Shannon's and the other was Jack's and he was showing me all these numbers.

"I said, 'What do they mean?' "He said that Jack was a 10-out-of-10 match. I screamed. I just left the doctor there and ran into my friend Joanne and I said, 'He's a match, he's a match'."

She added: "He keeps saying to people in the street that he doesn't even know 'Guess what? I'm a match and I'm going to save my sister'."

Jack underwent another blood test in Bristol Children's Hospital yesterday - but he was not worried. He has developed an unusual coping technique - singing Help by the Beatles. And his enthusiasm was so infectious, even the doctors joined in.

Shannon is due to begin chemotherapy to knock out her bone marrow at Bristol Children's Hospital on December 3. Jack is set to go into hospital a week later for the transplant. It means neither will be able to attend a fundraising night being organised by their aunt Ceri Jenkins in aid of Welsh children's cancer charity Latch, which has offered support to the family.

But Ceri said it will still go ahead on December 18 at the Ely Sports and Social Club on Cowbridge Road West, Cardiff.

CAPTION(S):

Jack Hutchinson, 10, will be donating bone marrow to his sister Shannon, 13, pictured right with their mum Georgina