BONE marrow transplant girl Nicola Coates is hoping she can come home for Easter after a dramatic improvement in her condition.

The 25-year-old leukaemia victim, from Wheldrake, near York, was feeling poorly and down last week, with no apparent end in sight to her stay in an isolation unit at St James's Hospital, Leeds.

Her white cell count remained stubbornly at zero, and her resistance to infection equally low, said her father Gary.

But then, within 24 hours last Friday, they both rose sharply, and they increased again by Sunday so that doctors even allowed Nicola to come home for two hours and enjoy a meal with her parents.

And now Gary and his wife Hazel are hoping Nicola will be allowed to spend several days at home over the Easter period, subject to a series of hygiene and health conditions. No one must visit her with any cold or other virus or infection, and she must stay away from any crowded place such as a pub or store.

"Psychologically, it's a fantastic boost for her," Gary said. "She was feeling quite depressed, largely due to her coming off morphine. We couldn't believe it when she said she was coming home for a couple of hours. It was unbelievable."

He said Nicola, who underwent a transplant from an American donor almost five weeks ago, had had symptoms of the all-important graft-versus-host condition. This indicated that the donor marrow was fighting its new host and should also attack any remaining leukaemia cells. Many of the unpleasant symptoms which Nicola suffered just after the transplant had now gone away, he added.