EIGHT-year-old Elizabeth Morris will be a familiar face to Bury Times readers as the toddler who underwent a bone marrow transplant after a year-long search for a donor.

And now, two years on from the operation, Elizabeth has been awarded the Star of Merit by the Guides for her bravery and determination.

Elizabeth, known as Beth, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at 17 months old.

Chemotherapy put the toddler into remission and ongoing treatment kept the illness at bay, but the blood disease returned at Christmas, 2000, and a bone-marrow transplant became Beth's only chance for survival.

After a long search and countless appeals, an anonymous donor was found in Germany and Beth, who was five at the time, had the transplant in April, 2002.

Despite numerous setbacks, including several cancelled operations, the youngster never demanded special attention and received the Star of Merit for her bravery and work in raising awareness of the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust.

Beth's mother, Janet Morris, of Hollow Meadow, Ringley, said: "Beth won the Star of Merit for her conduct throughout her illness. She never let it affect her and she never, ever wanted to be treated differently from anyone else."

Although it will be three years before the youngster receives the all-clear, Beth has made a full recovery and suffered no relapses. During her fight with the blood cancer, Beth became the face of the major 'Gift of Life' campaign to find donors to join the British Bone Marrow Register. The campaign, launched by the National Blood Service, aims to boost the number of bone marrow donors in the North West by 40,000.

Mrs Morris said: "Beth is a very popular girl at Brownies, although she is never treated differently by the other girls, and her and Charlotte are quite close so it is nice that they have both received this award."