Lopez makes cancer bone marrow appeal

Jennifer Lopez has appealed for US Hispanics to donate bone marrow to save a woman with cancer.

Doctors think blood cancer sufferer Janet Ovalles will be more likely to find matching marrow from someone with the same ethnicity.

"I am a young Hispanic woman; so is Janet," said Lopez, who has a Puerto Rican background. "I could empathise with her situation so much. These things just make you realise that we're all interconnected and depend on one another."

New Yorker Ovalles cannot find a suitable donor from her family or the 10m volunteers registered worldwide. The US register carries too few Hispanics, say officials.

Bone marrow centre DKMS hope the star's plea will encourage people to come forward. "It's been very hard to recruit Hispanic bone marrow donors," said a spokesman. "But with Jennifer's help we really feel we can get the Hispanic community on board."