A Croydon mum whose family tried desperately to battle against the odds to find a matching bone marrow donor has died.

In October last year the Croydon Guardian told how the Bakshi family was trying to tackle a lack of Asian blood and organ donors to find a suitable match for their mother.

Fifty-three-year-old Hardish Bakshi from Sanderstead had been battling acute myeloid leukaemia since July 2006.

Despite months of gruelling chemotherapy and a successful stem cell transplant, Hardish passed away on March 24 after contracting an infection.

This week her family said they were absolutely distraught and shocked by what had happened.

Hardish's son Pavan said: "The family fought to get her the drug myloparg which, at first, was refused to us. Then she had the stem cell transplant. She'd actually beaten cancer. The doctor sent a letter saying she was one of the bravest women he had met."

Despite a successful transplant operation, which was performed on Hardish's birthday on January 22, the mum of three contracted PTP, an infection which affects the liver and the production of platelets. She died in the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton.

As part of their campaign, Hardish's family organised a blood donor session at the Nanak Community Centre in Croydon to find a suitable bone marrow match from the Indian and south Asian community.

According to the Anthony Nolan Trust - a bone marrow donor register - less than three per cent of donors are Asian.

But despite not finding a match for their mum during the drive, the family's campaign did pair up another cancer sufferer and a suitable bone marrow match.

Pavan added: "This was something that was a real surprise to us because everything had gone so well.

"Leukaemia is a vicious type of cancer. As the Asian community grows bigger, the chance somebody will be affected by this or any type of cancer or disease that involves a transplant, will get bigger. If people remain blind and say this won't happen to me it won't help."

Pavan and his sisters, Tavneet and Sukheev, are planning to do more work to encourage more people from ethnic minority backgrounds to come forward as blood and organ donors.

Donors have to be aged between 18-40 to register with the Anthony Nolan Trust.

For more details call 020 7284 1234.