Appeal after Wolverhampton nurse dies of rare disease

Samantha Green, died aged 30, in October after developing Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD) in her lungs.

The mother-of-one from Oxley had battled and overcome leukaemia twice and received a bone marrow transplant from her sister Nicola Green, 28, on both occasions.

But she developed GVHD after her second bone marrow transplant and had to be put on the lung transplant list in an effort to save her life.

Sadly despite efforts of doctors at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham the former Cheslyn Hay School student passed away leaving her nine-year-old daughter Madison (corr)

Now Nicola, also from Oxley, wants to raise £5,000 so she can register a charity to research identifying symptoms of GVHD before it's too late.

She said: "My sister died on October 27. She was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was 21 and following treatment she went into remission.

"After she was treated she said she wanted to study to be a nurse to give hope to those who had cancer. She wanted to be able to say to them 'if I can beat it so can you'."

During her studies at the University of Wolverhampton, Samantha was given the devastating news that her leukaemia had come back.

Nicola added: "It was a kick in the teeth we had to go through it all again. The university were good to hold on to her place but she was making progress.

"After her second treatment she went back full time. She found it difficult to breath and thought she had a chest infection but it a lot worse."

Blood tests had shown Samantha was in remission but tests on her lung showed she had developed GVHD .

So rare is the disease in the lung Queen Elizabeth Hospital said they had only treated one other person who had the illness in that place.

Nicola, who works in customer service for Homeserve, said: "The option was for her to have a lung transplant and was placed on the transplant list in April this year. It became increasingly difficult for her to breath in her final few months and she was oxygen dependant. My sister said to me GVHD was so bad she would rather have her cancer return.

"She had been in hospital since January but had spent limited time at the family due to being on a suction machine which kept her lungs inflated. But on September 16 she was went into theatre for her transplant and never regained consciousness."

Nicola has growing support. A memorial night was held at the Red Lion pub in Amos Lane, Wednesfield last month to help raise funds for the cause.

She has so far raised £2,640.

She said: "Had the symptoms been identified earlier then it would have given my sister a better chance of surviving.

"There is a test that can be done that shows high protein levels in urine and this can be done with a simple urine test and something so simple can spot symptoms earlier.

"This charity is so we can have this test introduce as a standard and to roll it out across the NHS.

"I have seen research from Germany where they state this test can see early signs of GVHD and we want to raise as much money to campaign for this to be introduced here."

Anyone who wishes to support the fund can contact Nicola on nicky_green@hotmail.co.uk for information.