Asians in Gravesend are being urged to get swabbed to see if they could be the donor a five-year-old girl desperately needs.

Little Kaiya Patel was diagnosed with Leukaemia in March and despite hundreds of people being tested she is still yet to find a match.

Tomorrow members of the Asian community are being asked to attend Regent Pharmacy, in Windmill Street, to see if they could help save Kaiya's life.

The painless swabs take just a minute to complete and staff will be at the pharmacy, opposite the Civic Centre, from 10am to 5pm.

Kat Sokhi, of Chalk Road, Chalk, has arranged the event. She said: "Despite pleas on Facebook we are yet to receive the response we need. Ideally we'd like to see at least 100 people tomorrow. If we don't find enough I will walk round Gravesend town centre and plea with people to do it."

For the past two months Kaiya, who is from Wembley

and enjoys running, gymnastics and ballet, has been having chemotherapy and steroid treatments.

She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in March after her parents, Ruchit and Annu Patel, noticed bruising on her legs and bleeding gums.

But Mr and Mrs Patel fear they won’t be able to find a donor because none of her family members were a match and, due to her Asian ethnicity, she has a far lower-than-average chance of finding one.

Mr Patel said: “I was devastated when Kaiya was diagnosed. It’s heart-breaking, a huge punch in the gut. The strength of our little girl is inspiring and our friends and family have been a great source of strength.”