Jemima Laing BBC News, Plymouth

Charlotte is Sarah's third child Enlarge Image

For Plymouth woman Sarah Peck it is no different, but she will also remember 28 July 2004 for another reason.

On the same day it was confirmed she was carrying her longed-for third child she was also told she was suffering from chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).

Sarah, 30, and husband Cris were suddenly faced with the hardest decision of their lives.

Months of unshakeable fatigue had prompted Sarah to see her GP who in turn ordered a raft of blood tests that eventually saw her sitting in Dr Simon Rule's office one July morning to have both the good and the grim news confirmed.

The couple then knew they had to choose whether to continue with the pregnancy or to opt for a termination.

If it wasn't for Dr Rule I'm not sure Charlotte would be here Sarah Peck

Sarah credits the positive approach of Dr Rule, a consultant haematologist at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital, with making their decision to go ahead with the pregnancy easier.

She said: "It's because he agreed to manage the pregnancy that we decided to go ahead."

But it was a decision fraught with uncertainty and meant constant monitoring as her pregnancy progressed.

All available treatments such as a stem cell transplant or drug therapies were put on hold to give the baby the best chance of survival.

Vicky will provide stem cells for her sister

"It's always better to do a transplant in the chronic phase of the illness," said Dr Rule.

"If you delay then the risk you run is that it can become acute at any time."

In the intervening months post-delivery treatments were discussed and the family was delighted when Sarah's sister Vicky was found to be a bone marrow match.

Vicky, 27, says "it feels good to know I'm going to help save my sister's life".

To get through the subsequent months Sarah simply focused on reaching the 30th week of her pregnancy.

"[By then] I knew that if she needed to be delivered she would have had a good chance of survival," she says.

In the event Charlotte was born a healthy 7lb 5oz in a straightforward birth at 37 weeks on 19 March.

'Phenomenal drug'

Statistically CML is a disease that more commonly affects older men and Sarah was the first pregnant woman with the condition to be treated at Derriford Hospital.

But she has nothing but praise for the staff at Birch Day Case Unit.

"I've had superb care throughout, I cannot fault the staff on Birch or on the maternity unit where Charlotte was born," she says.

Dr Simon Rule has helped Sarah to take a "positive approach"

"And if it wasn't for Dr Rule I'm not sure Charlotte would be here."

While she waits for the transplant she has been put on a revolutionary new drug called Glivec which has already returned her blood count to within normal limits.

Dr Rule says: "Glivec is the first of the new, targeted therapies. It is a phenomenal drug."

The transplant itself, scheduled for later this year, offers a 70% chance of a cure.

"Sarah is young and fit and the donor is a sibling, it's as good as you could hope for in terms of transplant," says Dr Rule.

For their part Sarah and Cris are looking ahead optimistically to a life free of illness.

"These past few months have been a mixture of incredible highs and lows, once the transplant is complete I just hope we can get on with being a normal family," says Sarah.