SARAH Moriarty's parents consider her bone-marrow transplant, scheduled for February 21st, may save the life of their six-year-old daughter. However, if the nurses' strike is not resolved, the transplant will not go ahead.

Sarah, whose family lives in Bray, is a patient at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin. She was diagnosed four years ago with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. She went into remission more than a year ago.

"She's really been through hell," her grandmother, Theresa Kennedy, told The Irish Times this week. "She has been in and out of hospital for years and in theatre every other week for lumbar punctures. She is a great little battler. She has lost her lovely red hair twice and will do so again now, but she never complains. We are just in limbo waiting to see if the bone-marrow transplant goes ahead or not."

A match has been found for the transplant and the donation is already frozen, according to Sarah's mother, Caroline. In preparation for the transplant, Sarah was to travel to York Hill Hospital in Glasgow for a test dose of radiation on Monday. On Tuesday she was to begin a five-day course of chemotherapy. She was then to return to Glasgow for four more days of radiation before returning to Crumlin for the operation.

Her parents have been told the operation will not take place if the strike goes ahead. Instead, she will be sent home on maintenance treatment.

"The timing is vital. They do not class it as an emergency but everyday that is let pass she could have a relapse. We are just sitting waiting for word, the hospital say that they just do not know what will happen," her grandmother said.

Sarah's mother said they have decided to go ahead with the trip to Glasgow on Monday, but even if the hospital consented they would be slow to put her through the chemotherapy unless they knew that she would have the transplant.

Sarah knows that there is a nursing strike, Cawline said, but does not understand what that implies. "My husband John and I really feel it is too much to put her through. The waiting is awful and there are a number of parents here in the same situation.

"I have seen a lot of nurses in the past four years and they are fabulous. I don't blame them for striking, "Caroline said.