THE parents of a baby with a rare genetic disorder are urging people to come forward to be bone marrow donors as a match found for their son could save his life.

Eleven-month-old Oliver Finley has leukocyte adhesion deficiency type one, a disorder which affects his white blood cells and leaves him unable to fight infection.

It is so rare that there have only ever been approximately 300 cases diagnosed worldwide, but a bone marrow transplant could cure him.

Oliver’s parents, Kate and Russell Finley, are thrilled a donor has been found and are now preparing for his eight-week stay in Great Ormond Street Hospital for the transplant.

“We don’t go out much because we are terrified Oliver will get ill,” said Mrs Finley, 36, who lives just off Wilton Road in Salisbury with her husband and eldest son Samuel, aged two.

“He has just had 12 days in hospital with boils, and that’s what brought the bone marrow forward because he could get something worse next time. Samuel has just started playgroup and he is bound to pick up things. It is good we are going to get on with this because he could end up in hospital over the winter with a cold.”

Oliver was diagnosed with the disorder when he was six weeks old and even though he has been in and out of hospital ever since, he is always smiling. “He is the happiest baby I have ever known despite dealing with all this,” said Mrs Finley. “Even when he is in hospital on medication he smiles and laughs through it all. We are in pieces and he is in the bed smiling and laughing.”

When he goes into the children’s hospital in London on November 30, one of his parents will need to be there at all times, so Mr and Mrs Finley are relying on their close-knit family to help.

They said if everything goes according to plan, it will mean they can all get on with their lives and Samuel and Oliver can go to the park and go swimming like normal children. “It would just make such a difference, said Mrs Finley.

They are urging people to visit the bone marrow donor website and consider being a donor. “This register is worldwide so it is very important people just take time to look on it, and if they are interested that’s great,” said Mr Finley, 37. “Someone has saved our little boy and changed our lives so dramatically.” Visit the website at www.blood.co.uk/pages/marrow_info.html.