WALES: One year on and Anna's blooming.

Byline: By ERYL CRUMP

A BRAVE little girl who underwent a bone marrow transplant as she battled cancer is now "blooming", her mum said last night.

Ten-year-old Anna from Carrog, near Corwen endured 18 gruelling months of chemotherapy sessions and isolation from family and friends.

Eventually, Anna was given the all clear at Christmas 2006 and hasn't looked back.

And mum Sian told the Daily Post: "She's lively and taking part in everything that happens at school.

"Anna goes swimming and enjoys it immensely. She still has the occasional rash and we worry about her catching an infection but she is absolutely blooming."

But Sian added the past few years have been very difficult.

"Anna still has to visit Alder Hey hospital regularly. But now its every four months rather than the fortnightly visits at first. She still has blood tests on every visit but the results are fine.

"Just a few weeks ago we received a letter from CLIC (Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood) which said they were closing their file on Anna. They said we can still contact them if we need to, but it was nice to hear the file is being closed because its another step forward."

Anna marked the first step of her recovery a year ago by leading out the Welsh rugby team for their first match in the Six Nations Championships against Ireland at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Although a mad-keen Everton FC fan Anna will be watching the Welsh team again today as they take on the English at Twickenham.

Ysgol Caer Drewyn pupil Anna was just seven when she was diagnosed with myelodysplastic and genetic monosomy 7, which restricts blood cell production.

The condition affects just a handful of people in the UK and her parents Eddie and Sian were told her only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant.

There was no match suitable at the time, but through a series of mobile clinics set up by the Anthony Nolan Trust and an appeal on Welsh television, a donor was found and Anna started a course of chemotherapy and received her transplant in July 2005.

She was expected to spend six weeks in isolation with mum Sian there to support her. But Anna took her first steps outside only 11 days after the operation.

Anna left hospital but could have no contact with people and her older brother Joe even had to take his school uniform off in the shed due to the risk of infection.

The Culshaws do not know the identity of the donor. But they are eternally grateful to him and the Anthony Nolan Trust which organises blood sessions to match patients with suitable donors.

"All we know is that he is a 39-year-oldman off the Anthony Nolan register.

If it wasn't for him and the Trust, Anna wouldn't be here now," said Eddie.

And Anna keeps in touch with other sick children in North Wales, with mum

Sian adding: "Anna was delighted to hear that Chantelle Rowlands from Rhyl is doing so well after her bone marrow transplant."

The 11-year-old suffers from severe aplastic anaemia which means her bone marrow does not produce enough blood cells. Because she is of mixed race, with a white mother and Asian father, a suitable match had been difficult to find but 14-months ago she received the news her family had been waiting for.

After the transplant in January Chantelle returned to school at St Brigid's, Denbigh, after a worldwide search for a bone marrow donor.

For information on becoming a bone marrow donor or holding a clinic to potentially save a life e-mail [e-mail]

CAPTION(S):

Anna Culshaw yesterday and (above) a year ago leading Wales out in the Six Nations Main picture: ROBERT PARRY JONES