A TERMINALLY ill man who was reunited with his long-lost brother by the Daily Echo has had his hopes that his sibling could offer him a chance at life dashed.

Tests have shown that Christopher Phillips, who we traced to his Greek home last month, is not a bone marrow transplant match for his Leukaemia sufferer brother Neil, 39.

Neil's girlfriend Helen Jones, 27, contacted the Daily Echo from the couple's home in Salford, Manchester, just days after he was diagnosed with Leukaemia, saying he desperately needed a bone marrow transplant within the next few months.

Doctors treating Neil at Manchester Royal Infirmary said his best hope of a match would be his older brother Christopher, 53, but the pair had lost contact after their mother, Audrey, died when Neil was just two.

The younger brother moved to Wrexham in North Wales to start a new life with his father, Frederick, but Christopher chose to stay at the family home in Kingston, Surrey, and the brothers eventually lost contact.

Through the Daily Echo, Helen launched a desperate appeal to find Christopher, who she knew had lived in Tollard Close in Parkstone, Poole, before moving to Greece along with wife Joan in November. We managed to track down the Parkstone company currently letting Christopher's house, which sent him an email asking him to contact us.

When he called from the Greek island of Cephalonia just days later we immediately put him in touch with Helen.

Doctors sent the tests out to Christopher in Greece, who then returned them to England so the results could be examined.

But he discovered last week that he is not a match.

Christopher said: "Neil phoned on Saturday and said the blood had got back alright and we would get the results mid-week. His girlfriend phoned me on Thursday night and said they're not a match so they've now got to use the bone marrow register as a last resort.

"It was a bit upsetting, but it's not something you're in control of. You can't feel guilty because you can't do anything about it.

"But it's a great shame. It would have been the easiest option."

First published: April 26