A Shropshire teenager died just 30 minutes before she was due to receive a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant from her sister.

Kimberley Jones, 17, had been battling leukaemia for months and her family was desperately hoping bone marrow would save her life. Her sister Amanda, 15, travelled to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on Monday and donated the bone marrow.

Doctors were hoping to carry out the transplant at noon on Tuesday but Kimberley died at 11.30am that day.

Her mother Michelle Matthews, of College Road, Oswestry, said: “The doctors were hoping she would somehow survive so they could give her the bone marrow but she became very ill on Tuesday morning.

“They took her down to intensive care at 8am on Tuesday but she was just too ill to go on. It came down to a matter of hours at the end but there was nothing they could do.”

She added: “We were hoping the bone marrow would save her. They told us there was a 60 per cent chance it would fail but we wanted to take that chance.

“Her 13-year-old brother Stuart was also tested for his bone marrow but we thought Amanda’s bone marrow would be a good match because there is only about 18 months between the girls, but we never got the chance to find out.”

Mrs Matthews said Kimberley died from pneumonia brought on by the effects of renal failure and acute myeloid leukaemia.

She added: “Kimberley was very ill and we knew a few weeks ago that things may not work out but we wanted to go for the bone marrow to see if that would help.

“She fought the illness so bravely. She was diagnosed in November with leukaemia and went to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the treatment began.

“She was home for Christmas then she went back to hospital. She was transferred to Birmingham in February.”

Mrs Matthews said the loss of Kimberley, an animal care student at Walford and North Shropshire College, had devastated her family.

Her funeral will be held on March 10 at 2pm at Holy Trinity Church. Mourners are asked to wear Liverpool colours as Kimberley was a big fan of the club.

By Iain St John