A MOTHER battling against leukaemia has been given the chance of a new life -- after a worldwide search for a bone marrow donor.

Wendy Boyer, 45, of Clitheroe, spent Christmas in an isolation ward at The Christie Hospital, Manchester, after the disease flared up for the second time in a year.

Now Wendy's delighted daughters, Carla, 18, and Georgina, 16, have revealed nurses had told them they were more than 99per cent sure that a bone marrow match had been found.

An operation will enable her to start producing healthy, non-cancerous blood cells again, combating the disease for good.

Carla: "It's been horrible watching what has happened to mum but the strength she has shown during it all has really inspired me.

"This is what we were all hoping for, and we're now just keeping out fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong."

The mother-of-two was first diagnosed with leukaemia in June 2003, and underwent chemotherapy before being told she was in remission three days before Christmas last year. .

The former Ribblesdale High School pupil, who worked at Tesco in Clitheroe, relapsed in October, and has been undergoing chemotherapy at the Manchester hospital once again.

The latest course of chemotherapy -- a treatment of up to eight drugs which aims to eliminate all trace of the cancer -- will last four weeks and is due to end in time for New Year.

But to be given a better chance of surviving the cancer, a hunt was launched to find someone with the same bone marrow as her.

Searches for matches were carried out across the globe using charities such as the Anthony Nolan Trust, which holds a register of around 300,000 in the UK.

Globally, there are around five million on registers, but 50million types of bone marrow.

Carla, who works at a doctor's surgery, said: "The nurses have said they just need to make sure the person who has matches is fit to do the donation, and isn't pregnant.

"But they had said they are more than 99per cent sure of the match being right and we're all over the moon."

Bone marrow transplants have a 70per cent success rate. The donor has the piece of marrow removed and it is flown to the hospital where the cancer patients is waiting.

It isn't frozen and doctors work against the clock to ensure the transplant is a success.

No date has been set for the transplant.

A spokesman for the Anthony Nolan Trust said they could not comment on individual cases but added: "We are very cautious about getting people's hopes up so if a family is told of a match we must be very confident it is a good one."

Carla added: "I think as many people as possible should get on the register, and I hope more people will do."

To join the Register volunteers must be between 18 and 40, in good health and weigh over 8st. Pregnant women or those with a child under 12 months cannot join.

To find out how to join the Register call the Trust's hotline on 0901 88 22 234 or visit the web site at www.anthonynolan.org.uk