A YOUNGSTER with a rare genetic condition is due to start treatment ahead of his bone marrow transplant.

Four-year-old Riley Mulvany, four, is due to start chemotherapy at Newcastle General Hospital in preparation for the life-saving treatment.

The transplant is Riley's only hope of being cured of chronic granulomatous disorder, a condition that affects the body's ability to fight disease. Without the treatment, the youngster faces a life in and out of hospital.

The transplant will involve gruelling therapy for the Darlington youngster, who will have to undergo a ten-day course of chemotherapy that will leave him with no immune system.

He will then be isolated in hospital until the transplant, before spending a further two months in hospital recovering.

Riley had been waiting for a matching donor since he was diagnosed with the condition in March.

As none of his relatives were a match, he had to rely on the Anthony Nolan Trust's bone marrow register for a donor.