AN eight-year-old boy from Bunbury has written a heartfelt plea for his dad to receive a lifesaving stem cell donor.

Maxwell McCleave has written the letter calling on people to register to be on blood cancer charity DKMS's stem cell donor list to help his dad Peter McCleave.

Peter, a father of two, has myeloma, a blood cancer. His diagnosis came after he had taken part in the gruelling Iron Man fitness competition and suffered a bout of pneumonia two days later.

Peter has been given less than seven years to live if he doesn’t find a blood stem cell donor match. But he has stayed positive through his journey with this aggressive form of blood cancer, and the invasive treatment that has come with it including several rounds of chemo.

He recently launched a campaign to sign 10,000 new prospective blood stem cell donors to the UK’s aligned stem cell registry through blood cancer charity DKMS and has so far reached half of his target. Of these 5,000 new potential lifesavers, four have been confirmed as matches for people in need of a transplant.

But it was Peter's son Maxwell, who wrote the heartbreaking appeal, which left him choked up.

He said: “It has been said in the past, probably justifiably so, that I can on occasion be a little un-emotive. When I read this letter from my son my reaction was far removed from my default setting. I could not be prouder of both my kids but today, Max in particular has knocked me for six.

"I hate the fact that he has had to be exposed to this. Clearly his understanding of my situation is much greater than I appreciated and the letter is his way of approaching it.”

Maxwell's letter reads:

"My name is Maxwell McCleave and I’m in Year 4 at primary school and I’m eight years old. My little brother is Seb and he goes to the same school as me. He’s in Year 1 and he is five.

"My dad has myeloma, which is a blood cancer that I really don’t want him to have. I really want you to help Pete my dad beat his blood cancer by registering to be on DKMS’s stem cell donor list. "If my daddy doesn’t find a stem cell match he will only have seven more years with me and I want lots more!

"To find himself a donor my daddy has started a campaign I want to tell everyone about because it could save him. It is called 10000donors.com he is trying to get as many donors on the list as he can which I hope one day will be a match for him, but also for many many others.

Chester and District Standard:

"The picture that I have drawn (left) is about the stem cells. So the blue small things are the stem cells and the red is the blood. The stem cells are found in your blood if you didn’t know. The blood is put into a machine which is called a dialysis machine. The machine takes some of your stem cells out of your blood which they put into a pot to be cleaned and put into the person who has cancer. You don’t lose anything because your blood is then put back in to the other arm and your stem cells grow back in a few weeks.

"To the right is me with my daddy when he was first poorly. I liked his bald head as me and my brother thought he looked like Jonjo Shelvey and Newcastle United is our favourite team! Please help my daddy and sign up to be a donor, I love him and don’t want him to leave.

"Thank you for reading my letter I hope you will help me and my daddy’s campaign.

"Love from Maxwell McCleave"

Referring to his campaign, Peter added: “The results so far have blown me away. Never in a million years did I think we’d not just hit, but surpass target this soon. It just goes to show how generous people can be.

“I have had such mixed feeling since Max wrote his letter. Pride, love and sadness. When I read it I was so full of admiration and appreciation.

"I had not realised how much he had been taking on board and not only that, but coping with it too. An eight-year-old! But your child should not have to contend with such issues and I feel guilty that he has to. That I am taking away his childhood.

“But look at the good he has done with that situation. He is being proactive and using what he knows as best he can.

“And look at what he has achieved!

“Despite the reason why we’re doing this, I count myself very lucky to have the family I do.”

Peter featured in DKMS’s ‘Lifesaver in You’ advertising campaign, which featured real people looking for their lifesaver to help inspire as many people aged between 17-55 to register as potential blood stem cell donors at dkms.org.uk/WithPeter.