HOLLYWOOD star Dougray Scott is backing the nationwide appeal to find a life-saving donor for a brave Scots schoolgirl.

The Desperate Housewives hunk is urging potential donors to sign up to a bone marrow register in a bid to find a match for leukaemia sufferer Katie Currie.

Youngster Katie, from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, is currently in Glasgow's Yorkhill Hospital awaiting a life saving donor.

The five year-old is being treated in an isolation ward after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia two years ago - just weeks after her third birthday.

She fought the disease and until recently had been in remission.

But she suffered a relapse in March and is now in desperate need of a donor.

In May, cancer charity the Anthony Nolan Trust held a special clinic at the Stewartfield Holiday Inn in East Kilbride which attracted 700 people.

And with the charity set to launch a further five clinics across Scotland in a bid to find a life saving donor for Katie, screen star Scott, from Glenrothes, Fife, is hoping for a similar response.

The Scots actor, 42, said: "Patients like Katie Currie have a major problem, they urgently need a bone marrow transplant to save their life but cannot find a suitable donor.

"That's why I'm backing this campaign for Katie and urging everyone aged 18 to 40 to join the Anthony Nolan Trust's bone marrow register.

"Imagine how good it would feel to know that you have save a life.

"katie and thousands of other patients need you to step forward now.

"Please go to a registration session or contact the Anthony Nolan Trust on 020 7284 1234 or visit www.anthonynolan.org.uk to find out more."

Brave Katie's family, dad Neil, 39, mum Siobhan, 34, and three year-old sister Libby, thought she had beaten the cancer when she started St Hilda's Primary school in August last year.

But she was placed in isolation in the Schiehallion Ward at Yorkhill when she relapsed in March and is again undergoing chemotherapy.

Last night her dad, Neil, spoke of his daughter's "fantastic spirit" and said the whole family were grateful for Scott's support.

Neil, 39, said: "Katie is an inspiration.

"Despite what she has went through - the harsh, intensive course of treatment over the last few months - she kept smiling through it all and that's what keeps us, her family, going.

"We all take our strength from her fantastic spirit.

"The Anthony Nolan Trust provides a vital service in the battle to beat leukaemia.

"To have support from a public figure like Dougray Scott is so encouraging and important to help raise awareness of its cause. It just gives us an extra boost.

"All that's left to ask is that people come along to the clinics. You might just need to give a small sample of blood...but you may turn out to save someone's life."