IT was a wish that most teenagers take for granted.

Under-going gruelling treatment for a rare form of leukaemia in a hospital isolation chamber, Kitty Aplin-Haynes longed for the freedom to live life to the full like most girls her age.

But the cancer, which had spread to her brain and central nervous system, was so aggressive, her only hope of that freedom was a life-saving bone marrow transplant.

However, today the 18-year-old is at home and her wish has come true.

Daily Echo:

She can now look forward to laughing with friends and starting college after being told she is in remission thanks to the ultimate gift from a stranger, the gift of life.

Kitty is recovering after the bone marrow transplant plus a second procedure to boost her immune system from the same anonymous donor– and she has another reason to smile.

Campaign Her family and friends’ desperate campaign to raise awareness of her plight will also save other lives as more than 130 people have signed up to the bone marrow register.

Kitty said: “Many young people die waiting for a donor because only half of those who need a bone marrow transplant every year in the UK are lucky enough to find a match so I feel incredibly lucky.

“I’m overwhelmed my donor has donated his stem cells to me, not once, but twice.

"He is my hero and hopefully one day I have the chance to meet him and say thank you for everything he has done and the opportunities he is giving me for the rest of my life.

“He has given me life, there really is nothing more important.”

Kitty was diagnosed with the rare form of leukaemia APML a week before her 15th birthday in 2011 after suffering a stroke.

She discovered the cancer had spread to her brain and central nervous system.

However, after finishing intensive chemotherapy treatment in December 2013 at Southampton General Hospital her family were hopeful she would be able to lead a normal life again.

But in February, their world fell apart again. Following a routine bone marrow check, medics told the family Kitty had suffered a relapse.

Doctors told Kitty she needed a bone marrow transplant as well as a more aggressive type of chemotherapy.

When her sister Millie, 16, and brother Louis, 11, proved to be a negative match, Kitty’s cousins Emma and Sophia Parkinson, launched a Spit for Kit campaign on Facebook urging people to sign up to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow donor register.

Mum’s plea At the time Kitty’s mum Kate, pleaded: “Right now the tears in my eyes are a rare and honest glimpse of my hope that you could be Kitty’s lifeline – our family truly needs you.

“You could be the one beautiful person on the inside that this mummy is desperately waiting for.

“If you are not a tissue match for Kitty, you could potentially help another person and their family.”

Despite dozens of Kitty’s friends and relatives posting selfies with the charity’s test kit, still no match was found.

Kitty, who loves to sing and idolises Harry Styles, said: “I was terrified.

“But you have to get on with it. You don’t have a choice.

“I’ve grown up a lot. I have seen tiny little children seem so much older than they are because when you have cancer, you have to.”

Daily Echo:

But though an unlucky date for some, on Friday, June 13 the search was over and an anonymous UK male donor was found by the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity with the perfect stem cell match.

Kitty was told she would be admitted on June 22 for the transplant and would need to spend six weeks in an isolation chamber with special filtered air to protect her.

Mum Kate, who cares for her daughter alongside her husband Rick, a film editor, said: “It was the fairytale news there was a donor but it certainly was not a fairytale story about a beautiful young princess being locked up in a tower for weeks.

It was a very real life-changing scenario.

“Unlike Rapunzel, Kitt did not grow her hair, instead her hair fell out and she suffered some gruesome side effects that go with every stem cell transplant.”

Sickness, exhaustion, losing the lining of her mouth and her throat therefore unable to swallow were just some of the side effects Kitty dealt with.

She said: “I have become so much stronger. I never thought some of the things I’ve been through I would have coped with.”

However for Kitty, the hardest times were witnessing the heartache of seeing friends she had met lose their battles with cancer.

“The count now is 15,” Kitty pauses with tears filling her eyes.

“And that’s all people I knew, of all ages. Some have had transplants, there were some who needed them but couldn’t.

“You become really close because you are on the same ward and you are going through the same thing so it’s very hard.”

Since returning to her Stockbridge home in August, Kitty takes multiple tablets, must eat a strict diet, and must stay either at home or in hospital to protect her from infection.

Kitty, said: “Missing out on everything has been hard.

“You miss out on going to parties, meals, shopping, concerts.”

Before Christmas, Kitty was back in hospital having some top up cells donated by the same stranger in order to boost her immune system.

Despite being in remission, she faces an uncertain future with constant checkups in hospital but she is hopeful for the New Year.

Kitty, said: “They said I am doing really well. I’m sleeping a lot but the first year on is the big step.

“We’ve all said we are thankful 2014 is over because it has been a pretty rubbish year but this year will be better and I can’t wait. We’re planning things to do, days out, trips away, holidays.

“But I just can’t wait for the basic things like going out for dinner with a big group of girls, shopping in London – small things but so exciting for me because I haven’t done it for so long.

“Even just being at home, spending time with the cat, mum, dad, Millie and Louis I do appreciate anything and everything I have got.”