THE family of a leukaemia sufferer Julia Hember breathed a huge sigh of relief when her life-saving bone marrow transplant finally took place.

Miss Hember, 32, is recovering at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London after the operation on Thursday.

It has been a long wait for her parents, Paul and Mary, but now they hope she is on the road to recovery.

Mr Hember, who lives with his wife in Codford, near Warminster said: "Obviously we do not know the result yet. It takes a while to see whether her body rejects it, but she has remained bullish despite suffering from the side effects of the treatment.

"The recovery process could take anything up to two years. We don't want to count our chickens but it is a relief that it's finally happened. We are still worried but everyone is hoping and praying for her."

Miss Hember was diagnosed with the disease last year. After a tissue match and donor were found, the operation was postponed because she had pneumonia, and she was still too ill for treatment in January.

The 32-year-old is being kept in isolation because her immune system is unable to fight off infection.

Mrs Hember, who has been travelling to London to support her daughter, said: "She has no resistance, so cannot have any visitors for the next fortnight. Doctors hope that when the new stem cells take effect her immune system will start to build up again."

Miss Hember's family will continue to raise awareness of leukaemia and have persuaded more than 600 people to donate blood samples to the Anthony Nolan Trust, which compiles a register of volunteers who can be matched with sufferers.

The Wiltshire Times set up the Save a Life appeal to try and find a bone marrow donor for Julia. Staff from Virgin Mobile and Wiltshire County Council donated samples to the Trust.