A 19-year-old woman with leukaemia, who put her life at risk to have a baby, has made a desperate plea for a bone marrow donor.

Kelly Byrne needs to find a donor so she can have a bone marrow transplant to fight off the cancer.

She is determined to do everything she can so she can live to see her son grow up.

University College Hospital, London, where Miss Byrne has had two courses of chemotherapy, and the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust, have mounted a worldwide search for a donor, but have yet to find one.

Miss Byrne, of Beech Avenue, Braintree, and a Braintree and Bocking Carnival Queen in 1999, fought off leukaemia when she was 13, but found out it had returned on her last check-up visit five years later. And she was 19 weeks pregnant when she found out.

But Miss Byrne decided to keep the baby and wait for treatment afterwards rather than be treated immediately and terminate the pregnancy.

She said: "I am pleased that I went ahead with it all despite what people said. People thought I was crazy. It is a hard decision to make, probably one of the hardest decisions anyone would have to make."

Anyone who would like to become a potential bone marrow donor and be on the Anthony Nolan donor register can send for information to The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust, PO Box 1767, London NW3 4YR or call 0207 72841234. You must be between 18 and 40-years-old, healthy and the trust is particularly looking for male donors.

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