Neil Akin, headteacher of Grange Primary School, in Dorothy Road, Kettering, said the whole school was preparing to rally round to help save seven-year-old pupil Jenna Mae Token, who is battling leukaemia.

She is in hospital waiting for a bone marrow transplant, as reported in the Evening Telegraph earlier this week, but must wait for a donor with a match.

Mr Akin said: "She is such a sweet little girl and everyone at the school is very upset about the situation.

"Jenna's condition is very serious and we want to help in any way possible so are involved in fundraising. I will be sending a letter out to all the parents to tell them about the donation session. I will be there and hoping we can find a perfect match for her so we can get the treatment going.

"Her friends know she is ill but we are keeping positive about the situation and I am confident a match will come forward."

The school held a fundraising session before the summer holidays and managed to raise enough money to buy Jenna a flat screen TV for her hospital room with the help of Currys electrical shop.

Despite Jenna being in isolation at Leicester Royal Infirmary, following a course of chemotherapy, her teachers are still keeping her busy with school work.

And Jenna's family is planning to redecorate her bedroom for her return from hospital thanks to the donation of fundraiser Richard Burton, who visited their home yesterday to give them £1,000.

Mr Akin added: "I am so touched at how many people are trying to help Jenna out, be it going to the donor sessions or fundraising. The class is keen to send her cards and parents have been very generous. We are absolutely positive she can get better."

The Anthony Nolan Trust is holding a donor session from 4.30pm to 7.30pm on Thursday, September 25, at Brambleside Primary School, Kettering. Anyone aged between 18 and 40 and in good health is urged to attend the session. For more information visit www.anthonynolan.org.uk.


How to be a donor

*Registering on the bone marrow register takes about 20 minutes

*A blood sample is taken by a doctor which is sent off to be tested for the tissue types, which are used to identify potential matches

*A small sample is taken and a health questionnaire is filled in

*The tissue type details are stored on the bone marrow register, which keeps tissue types for donors around the world

*You can join the bone marrow register up until your 40th birthday and your details will be held on the register until you are 60

*If any matches for a potential transplant come up in this time you will be contacted through the blood marrow register