COURAGEOUS Nicola Coates has lost a 23-year battle for life after being stricken by leukaemia for the fifth time.

The 35-year-old – who was given a life-saving bone marrow transplant by an American newspaper editor in 2000 after The Press ran a campaign to find a donor – died suddenly in hospital after suffering liver failure caused by the leukaemia.

Today her parents, Gary and Hazel, told of their devastation at her death, saying it had left a “massive void”, but also spoke of their gratitude to American donor Scott Wittchow for giving them an extra eight years with their daughter.

The couple, from Wheldrake, near York, also paid tribute to the positive and uncomplaining way Nicola had always responded to her illness.

“Nicola bore her illness bravely and resolutely right to the end, with considerable care and compassion for her mum and dad,” said Gary.

“The chief haematologist said that if you could create the perfect patient, it would be Nicola – never complaining, never demanding. She was a star patient.

“I think that because Nicola became ill so young, she developed an extraordinary character and a great strength, and she approached life with an attitude of openness, warmth and compassion for people with illness or disability.”

Hazel said Nicola had always been determined to beat her illness. “She was a real fighter,” she said.

Nicola first fell ill with leukaemia when she was a 12-year-old pupil of Fulford School, but it appeared to have been beaten by chemotherapy.

Her older sister, Helen, then died after falling ill with another cancer of the blood, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Nicola suffered her first relapse when she was 17, which was again successfully treated, but the illness returned again when she was 25. This time her only hope of survival was a bone marrow transplant and, with none of her family able to provide a suitable match, Gary and Hazel launched a campaign in the autumn of 1999 to find a donor through the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust.

The campaign was adopted by The Press, which organized a donor session in Priory Street, but a suitable donor was actually found some months later in America.

By a quirk of fate, Scott Wittchow was the editor of a newspaper owned by Gannett, The Press’ own parent company, who had joined an American register of donors years before – after his own paper had launched a campaign to find a donor to help a local woman.

Gary revealed today that Nicola suffered a third relapse in 2007, which was successfully treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

In September this year, Nicola had to undergo open-heart surgery to remove a benign tumour from her heart.

She was still recuperating from the operation when, last month, she felt ill and it was found she had suffered a fourth relapse.

Doctors were preparing her for another course of chemotherapy last Monday when her condition deteriorated and, on Tuesday afternoon, Gary and Hazel were told that the illness had – very unusually – spread to her liver, causing it to fail, and she had only hours to live.

“We just couldn’t comprehend it,” said Gary. “Everything had seemed to be under control. It’s highly unusual for leukaemia to migrate to a vital organ. We were absolutely devastated.

“Nicola’s death has created a massive void in our lives. Our lives have revolved around caring for her, and taking her to clinics.

“Anyone who loves their daughter would do the same.”

• Nicola’s funeral will take place at 11am on Wednesday at St Helen’s Church in Wheldrake, with donations requested in lieu of flowers for Leukaemia Research, followed by her burial in the churchyard in a plot next to her sister Helen’s grave. Hazel and Gary said they bought the plot years ago, so they could be buried next to Helen when they died.


Tribute to a ‘fighter’

Scott Wittchow, the newspaper editor from Fond du Lac in America, whose bone marrow was a perfect match for Nicola and gave her an extra eight years of life, has written this moving tribute to her.

“Nicola was a fighter. She has been battling leukemia most of her life and time and time again, survived.

My wife, Gretchen, and I, and all the friends she developed here in Fond du Lac (Wisconsin, USA) over the past years are deeply saddened at her passing.

“She was always so upbeat, kept a smile and we will never forget her. I have been very blessed to have developed a friendship with Nicola, her parents, Gary and Hazel, and all of their friends who we met in our travels and through continued communication.

“We have called the bone marrow donation a ‘miracle medical match’ because it brought us to Nicola, and to Wheldrake and opened a whole new chapter of friendship with a very unique person, her family and friends.

“Our hearts go out to Gary and Hazel who have shown unwavering support of Nicola through most of her life and for their other daughter, Helen, who also died of cancer at a very young age. We pray that God be with them both in the days, weeks and months ahead. Our hopes are that one day we can again meet with our many friends who live in and near Wheldrake so that we can share those wonderful memories we have of dear, sweet Nicola.”


Loss ‘deeply felt’ by co-workers

NICOLA worked for six years in the communications office at the University of York until she fell ill earlier this year.

A university spokesman said she had been popular among staff at the university, where her loss had been deeply felt.

The university’s director of communications, Hilary Layton, said: “Nicola’s friends and colleagues in the communications office at the University of York, are devastated by her loss. “She worked with us for seven years, and we found her kind, witty, determined and extraordinarily courageous.

“We feel very privileged to have shared the healthy happy years she did have, and we already miss her very much.”