THE MOTHER of a Gwent man suffering from Leukaemia thanked the dozens of people who offered to donate bone marrow that could potentially save her son's life.

More than 90 people queued at Gaer Junior School, Newport, last night to add their names to the bone marrow register and see if they were an eligible match for 22-year-old Matt Carver.

The volume of people was far beyond what organisers had expected and some people had to be turned away as they were too old or not matching certain health criteria.

Speaking directly to the Argus, Mr Carver's mum, Teresa, 45, thanked everyone who attended: "It's fantastic how many people are here. We thought there would be about 30 or 40.

"We're very grateful to everybody that attended and to the Anthony Nolan Trust and headteacher John Webb for letting us use the school."

Oxford graduate Mr Carver needs to find a matching donor as he has only a 10 per cent chance of surviving without the vital transplant.

The clinic at Gaer Junior School, where Matt used to be a pupil, saw potential donors giving four millilitres of blood to nurses from the Anthony Nolan Trust, who control the bone marrow register.

They will then be assessed to see whether they can match the marrow of Matt, or any other people needing such lifesaving operations.

Matching blood samples has to be precise and each taken from those at Gaer School will be tested 200 times before it is matched with a patient.

Teresa Carver, said: "We've had a steady stream of people since we've been open, there has always been a queue and that's encouraging.

Mr Carver's younger sisters were both found to not be a match following previous tests.

"The more people here the better. It means there's a lot more people to test and that's encouraging."