Billy Connolly helped Millie search for a donor
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A young woman whose battle with leukaemia inspired thousands to register as bone marrow donors has died.
Millie Forbes, 21, from Keig, Aberdeenshire, sparked a nationwide search for a bone marrow donor last year by launching Millie's Campaign.
Her plight was supported by comedian Billy Connolly whose Strathdon home is close to the house where Millie lived.
Despite finding a donor and having a transplant, Millie died at the weekend.
Angela MacVicar, donor recruitment officer at the Anthony Nolan Trust, who helped run her appeal, said Millie was a "wonderful, vibrant young woman" who would never be forgotten.
She said: "We are all very sad at the news.
"But Millie fought hard and at least with finding her a donor she did have a chance.
"She did not just run the campaign for herself and there were at least a couple of thousand people who joined the register through Millie's Campaign.
"I am sure her family are very proud of her."
Millie was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in August 2002.
Instead of starting university as planned, she spent six months in hospital undergoing extensive chemotherapy.
After going into remission the following February, it was thought she had beaten the disease.
Transplant operation
But after a routine blood test in July 2003, Millie was told the leukaemia had returned and her best chance of survival was a bone marrow stem cell transplant.
Her brother Jamie and sister Annabella were not suitable matches, nor were any of the 330,000 donors on the Anthony Nolan Trust register.
In August 2003, Millie's Campaign was launched in support of the Anthony Nolan Trust to recruit more bone marrow donors.
Finding a donor match can be a long process
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This was backed by Billy Connolly and, as word of the appeal grew, other high-profile figures, including former Scotland rugby captain Gavin Hastings, supported the cause.
Millie, who represented her country at lacrosse in 2001, also received help from countless friends and strangers.
In December last year a donor was found and Millie travelled to London where she underwent a bone marrow transplant.
The same month a petition calling on the Scottish Executive to run a campaign encouraging the donation of bone marrow and blood stem cells through a bone
marrow register was presented to the Scottish Parliament.
Despite undergoing the transplant, Millie lost her fight for life on Saturday - almost 12 months after the campaign was launched.
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I am sure her family are very proud of her
