'My heritage is rare, but I need to find someone like me or I might not make it - please help'

A woman who mistook cancer symptoms as an after effect of her gym routine is urgently searching for a stem cell donor after her illness relapsed.

Asia Sharif, 27, initially mistook the signs of her illness for gym-related aches. Now, she is on an urgent mission to find a stem cell donor after her cancer came back.

Diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, Asia was considered in remission in April 2024 but soon faced the devastating news of a relapse. The software engineer is originally from Liverpool but now lives in Deansgate in Manchester city centre.

She is undergoing chemotherapy at The Christie and has been told that a stem cell transplant could be critical for her survival. But her rare half-Somalian, half-Moroccan heritage, means finding a matching donor should she need that transplant is difficult.

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In response to this, Asia, alongside the Anthony Nolan charity, has initiated the 'Register for Asia' campaign, aiming to motivate young individuals aged 16-30 from diverse backgrounds to join the stem cell registry. "It can be harder for people like me, who are from minority ethnic backgrounds, to find a match, that's why I'm sharing my story, and hoping to inspire people to register," she urged earlier this year.

"If you're matched with someone in need, your stem cells could literally save their life. There are lots of good people in the world who genuinely want to make a difference and I think this is one way to really do that. It's a blessing to save a life."

Asia, who took up coding in the midst of the pandemic and has since become a software engineer at