A MOTHER who inspired a community by twice battling cancer has died after contracting pneumonia just weeks after undergoing a bone marrow transplant.

Today, a daughter of Wendy Boyer, 45, paid tribute to her "courageous and inspiring" mother as her family began preparing a funeral for the Clitheroe mother-of-two.

Wendy, of Waterloo Road, died in North Manchester General Hospital on Thursday after becoming ill with pneumonia, having successfully undergone a bone marrow transplant at Christie Hospital in February.

Her family had started the year confident she could beat killer cancer leukaemia after a worldwide search for a matching bone marrow donor had proved successful.

Friends, family and colleagues from Tesco in Clitheroe had held a bone marrow registration day in the town to try and find a match, although it is not known if the actual match was found there.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments for the cancer leave the immune system weak, and Wendy spent Christmas in an isolation ward after undergoing her most recent course of treatment.

Today, her eldest daughter Carla, 18, said: "Mum had the transplant a few weeks a go and everything was going well but then she got pneumonia.

"She went into hospital but Mum died. She battled really hard and made us all so proud. She has been an inspiration.

We are hoping to arrange a funeral for next week and would like to thank everyone who has supported us."

Wendy, whose other daughter is 16-year-old Georgina, was first diagnosed with leukaemia in June 2003.

She underwent chemotherapy before being told she was in remission three days before Christmas 2003.

The former Ribblesdale High School pupil relapsed in October, prompting a second fight against the disease.

Phil Mallery, store manager at Tesco, said: "Wendy worked at the store for 15 years.

"She was a well loved and respected member of the team and inspired us all throughout the illness.

"Wendy will be dearly missed by all of us."