Eva Winston-Hart, of The Headlands, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia last year but is on the road to recovery following a transplant in May, which saw her injected with blood stem cells harvested from an umbilical cord stored in the USA.

In some states in the USA stem cells taken from umbilical cords are stored automatically but it is not common practice in the UK.

Eva's mum and dad, Amy and Dave Winston-Hart, together with other family and friends, are campaigning for the government to establish facilities across the UK where donated umbilical cords can be stored to help other people.

Copies of a petition – available for download at www.helpsaveeva.co.uk – have been sent to hundreds of businesses and organisations across Harborough district and beyond.

Campaigners are hoping to get as many signatures as possible by November 17 – Eva's fourth birthday – before taking the petition to parliament.

And this week Mrs Winston-Hart set up an online petition on the Downing Street website to add further weight to the campaign.

Mrs Winston-Hart said: "The umbilical cord was donated by the parents of a little boy born in America just five months before Eva's diagnosis. This was the only suitable match for our little girl in the world. Thank God the Americans are doing this, otherwise Eva just simply would not be here."

Mrs Winston-Hart urged people to sign the petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/cordbloodstorage.