SHE was just getting to grips with motherhood and starting to get to know her little boy.

But, just nine days after giving birth, Emma Wiskin was given the shattering news that she had an aggressive form of leukaemia.

It was after she had Nathaniel on her 30th birthday at the Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton that medics noticed Emma was not recovering well and sent her for blood tests.

After being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia she began treatment within a week.

Forced to undergo four courses of chemotherapy and time spent in an isolation room, she was unable to spend the first few precious months with her baby.

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But thanks to staff at Southampton General Hospital’s specialist regional haematology unit and a life-saving bone marrow transplant from her sister Beccy, Emma is now back at home with her new family, ten months on.

“I was devastated when given the diagnosis of leukaemia. It is not what you expect when you come into hospital to have a baby,” said Emma, who is herself a doctor.

“Treatment has been difficult, especially spending so much time away from my son. However, thanks to the haematology team at Southampton and my sister’s bone marrow stem cells I can look forward to getting on with life with my family.”

Emma will return to the hospital twice a week for follow-up treatment and to make sure that her bone marrow transplant has been successful.

Now Emma and her husband Tony want to help others by raising money for Southampton Hospital Charity’s Red & White Appeal, which is backed by the Daily Echo.

The appeal is to fund a £2.2m specialist day case unit for patients, like her, with leukaemia and other blood disorders.

The new centre will offer a more spacious environment for haematology patients to have day case treatments such as chemotherapy, blood transfusions and stem cell collections.

Tony, who is a paediatrician at Southampton General, has organised a fundraising cycle ride with ten friends from Southampton to London later this month.

He said: “The unit has fantastic nurses and doctors, and they and the patients deserve the best facilities possible.”

Setting off from Southampton on June 26, Tony and his team will cycle the 85 miles to Waterloo, making stops on the way to collect as much sponsorship money as possible for the appeal.

• Sponsor Tony & the team here.