Island mother who was separated from her children as she was treated loses fight for life

Fiona Hart, 32, from Islay, captured hearts when she made a nationwide appeal for bone marrow donors in a desperate quest to be reunited with baby Honor and two year old son Jacob.

Her mother has now made a poignant appeal for others to enlist as bone marrow and blood stem cell donors in her memory.

Linda McArthur, of Bowmore, said: "We do want to push that,

we still want people to donate, to help others.They can do this by contacting the Anthony Nolan Trust, or Delete Blood Cancer."

Mrs McArthur told how her daughter had died in Glasgow's Southern General Hospital on Thursday, with her husband Simon, her mother, father and father-in-law by her side.

She said the psychiatric nurse, who worked at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, had fought her illness for over a year and added: "She was a fighter, she was a strong, strong girl.

"She was the only person in the world to have this particular form of lymphoma, that's why they couldn't find a cure, they even had scientists in Japan trying to help."

Although a host of medical specialists tried their best to help, the former pupil of Islay High School had a number of set backs.

Mrs McArthur said: "Fiona had so many slaps in the face, they would say, we are going to try this Fiona and then go. That is not suitable for you."

In the weeks before her death Mrs Hart had been taking part in scientific trials in Manchester.

Mrs McArthur said: "There were trials in Manchester, they took her blood to America, took her T cells and cultivated it. They are tiny, but they grow inside you."

But the trial didn't work and her body reacted badly. Her mother said: "They didn't know if she was allergic to the T cells or the medicine she was on. Her immune system was so shocked they said they could not even do a bone marrow transplant.

She added: "Last week the consultant in Glasgow said to Fiona that she was not fit enough to go down to Manchester again, that the T cells were not doing any good and they were going to have to take her off the trial."

With her immune system at an all time low Fiona caught pneumonia and died two days later.

Her mother added: "Fiona wanted to come back to Islay, we were making arrangements, but she didn't make it.

"The nurses and doctors in the hospital were more like family to her so they said they were glad that she did go

there, and she had her own family around her too."

Mrs Hart was ill throughout her pregnancy, her initial symptoms included a blocked nose and it was initially thought she was suffering from hay fever.

However, she was diagnosed with EBV lymphoma T4 killer cell cancer the week before Christmas 2014 when baby Honor was just three months old and the couple's son, Jacob, was two.

She and husband Simon remained in Glasgow, where she was a patient at the Southern General Hospital. Honor stayed with Mrs McArthur and her husband Donald, while Jacob stayed with Simon's parents, Peter and Mairi Hart, in Port Ellen.

In a letter to the children earlier this year, Mrs Hart said: "It is so hard

being away from you. A mother should be with her children and I hope that I can get that chance soon, once we find our superhero donor who will bring our little family back together again."

Her funeral service will be held on Saturday at Bowmore Round Church with a cremation at Linn Crematorium in Glasgow on Monday.

Her illness meant that Mrs Hart spent most of the time apart from her children. They last saw her in August, at a local show. Mrs McArthur added:

"We just had a lovely day."