Fiona had a successful transplant operation

Fiona Bowman, 31, from Haverhill in Suffolk, managed to fight back to health after developing the illness when she was six, nine, 13 and 19.

Even after being diagnosed just before going to university, she went against a doctor's advice and gained a degree.

Last month she picked up her Duke of Edinburgh's Award and her boyfriend of two years, Kelvin Ellam, 31, proposed.

Her leukaemia was first diagnosed after a nosebleed when Miss Bowman was six years old, but eventually after chemotherapy and radiotherapy she was given the all-clear.

Successful operation

At nine she was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia and then at 13 she had an acute form of the disease and needed a bone marrow transplant.

She said: "The transplant was a really big thing at the time, but I have a really strong family and they wouldn't let me think other than that I would get better."

Then, after a gap year in South Africa and just before going to university, Miss Bowman had a relapse.

But despite medical advice, she went to the University of the West of England in Bristol and graduated with a BA Hons in English Literature.

After controlling the disease with self-administered injections, she is now taking tablets which suppress the chromosome that causes the disease.

Without the National Blood Service, I would be dead Fiona Bowman

Miss Bowman, who now works in public relations in London, said that without the National Blood Service she would not have survived.

"It's vital for people to donate. Without the National Blood Service I would be dead," she said.

Now she is to marry fiancé Kevin in church next year.

"Despite everything, I pretty much thought it would happen one day," she said.