Over 600 Manchester Jews responded to an appeal to attend a bone marrow screening drive on Sunday in support of local leukaemia suffer Leora Kuhillow, whose story was reported in Community last week.

Such was the level of interest that organisers had to turn people away from the Hilton Suite venue in Prestwich. Separate men’s and women’s testing areas were provided in deference to religious sensibilities.

Organiser Lisa Cohen-Binder says that those who could not be screened could be tested at their GP or at a follow-up drive in south Manchester next month.

Mrs Kuhillow, a 32-year-old mother-of-three from Whitefield, is responding to chemotherapy after at one time being placed on a life support machine

Her husband Mark was overwhelmed by the turnout and by the length of time people were prepared to queue.