News of the World - Sunday Magazine 21 March 2000

Eight-year-old Emma Heaton had already seen one sister die. And she wasn't going to let it happen again. Report by Carole Beck.

Little Emma Heaton's voice didn't wobble. Dressed in her school uniform, the seven-year-old concentrated on the piece of paper in her hands. She read the words she hoped would save her baby sister's life - "Dear God. Please can I keep my sister because I love her very much. You have Katie in heaven and if you take Beth, I will have no sisters left. Tell Katie I love her. I say my prayers every night. Love from Emma."

Everyone in the room felt their eyes fill with tears. But Emma, sat on her dad Stuart's lap, just gazed at the TV camera and into the souls of millions of viewers across Britain.

Baby Beth was born with a blood disease and needed a bone marrow transplant. Brave Emma felt a television plea to God was the only answer.

And it worked. Even as the presenter on BBC's City Hospital gulped back the tears, the phones to the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust were already ringing. About 24,000 inquiries later, Emma's prayer to God didn't just give her dying sister a second stab at life - she also helped save the lives of countless others. Her first little sister Katie was born when Emma was three. But when they tried to feed her, she started vomiting. She was whisked to intensive care.Their mum Karen says: "Her bowel wasn't connected to the rest of her body. There was nothing the doctors could do except keep her alive in the hope she could have a bowel transplant later in life."

When they brought Katie home to care for her, Emma was delighted. "She took Katie under her wing" recalls Karen, who's from Southampton. "We even got Emma her own pair of sterile gloves so she could pretend to help us, too."

Then one evening in November 1995, eight-month-old Katie stopped breathing. She was certified dead later in hospital. The family were shattered. "Poor Emma lost her childhood overnight," says Karen.

Then, last May, Karen gave birth to Beth. But minutes after the birth, a nurse noticed Beth's skin was losing colour and big bruises covered her body. Doctors discovered Beth was born with aplastic anaemia, a failure of the bone marrow, and she need an urgent bone marrow transplant. "We were all tested, but none of us were compatible," sighs Karen. "We were told that she wouldn't make it through Christmas without a transplant. That was when Emma showed me the prayer she'd written."

A nurse at Southampton Hospital told Karen and Stuart that the programme City Hospital was being filmed there. And last September, Emma read out her letter on camera.

A month later, the family learnt that a 22-year-old man who had seen the broadcast was a perfect match. And in December, Beth received her life-saving transplant. She's at home now and the two girls are inseparable.

Stuart says: "There's still only a 40 per cent chance that Beth will survive. But Emma gave her that chance - we're so proud of her"

• The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust are looking for donors aged 18-40, especially males and those from ethnic minorities. Call them on 0901 882 2234.