Sisters keep on fighting

FIONA MILES helped her sister stare down death once.Now the Ballarat woman stands alongside her sibling again as they face a new challenge together.Ms Miles underwent surgery last October to save younger sister Simone Wignall's life.The 31-year-old was 14 weeks pregnant when she was told Simone, 28, had leukaemia and would die without a transplant.When blood tests revealed the pair to be a perfect match - a one-in-four chance - Ms Miles did not hesitate to donate."I knew Simone needed it and she would have done the same for me if I had been in her situation," the Ballarat Health Services health information manager said."We have always been close; not just sisters but best friends as well."Doctors had hoped to delay the transplant until after the baby's birth, but decided to go ahead when Ms Wignall's condition rapidly deteriorated.In what was believed to be an Australian-first, Ms Miles donated her bone marrow when she was 29 weeks pregnant.Without an Australian precedent to follow, doctors sought advice from experts in Seattle, US, where a pregnant donor had been involved in a successful harvest.Ms Miles was grateful the procedure could be performed without endangering her baby, a boy born five weeks ago named Spencer.She hoped the donation would send her sister's cancer into remission permanently but, due to the nature of the disease, was prepared for the possibility it might return.However, she was shocked when it re-appeared so quickly.Ms Wignall, a Geelong Hospital emergency nurse, discovered the leukaemia was back during her 100-day post-transplant bone biopsy three weeks ago.Now the sisters, whose mother Sandra died four years ago from breast cancer complications, are determined to remain positive as Ms Wignall enters a new treatment phase."It was pretty hard (receiving the news) but at the same time I know I have a baby to look after," Ms Miles said."It can't be serious and doom and gloom all the time. With any type of cancer, it's that positive attitude that helps people in a lot of cases."Ms Wignall said she would continue living her life as normal, lunching with friends and talking four times a day on the phone with her sister."Naturally I'm scared of dying but I've just got to hope this treatment works and I'll be okay," she said.