A three-year-old girl in need of a life-saving bone marrow transplant was told her "hero wasn't well anymore" after a second donor pulled out.

Ava Stark, from Lochgelly in Fife, has a rare blood condition and will die unless she receives a stem cell transplant.

She was diagnosed with inherited bone marrow failure in April, when doctors thought she might have leukaemia.

Ava relies on weekly platelet transfusions and a blood transfusion every three weeks while she waits for a transplant.

As news of her plight spread, a match was secured for Ava in July - the only one found on a 25 million-strong global donor register. The match then had to pull out at the last minute.

The family's hopes were raised a second time when another donor was found in September, only to be dashed when the replacement also pulled out.

Before the phone call, Ava had called the second match "my hero".

Ava's mother Marie spoke of the moment she was told the operation in Glasgow had been cancelled - just 24 hours before she was due to go to hospital.

Marie said: "We were sitting watching Peppa Pig when the phone rang - it was Glasgow, and I thought they were just phoning to see how we were getting on.

"The car was packed, we were ready to go. They said it was bad news and the donor had to be pulled out for medical reasons.

"I started crying, Ava was in the living room and she asked 'Why are you sad?' I said 'Your hero isn't well anymore' and she just said 'OK'.

"We haven't been hugging or kissing her because of risk of infection but she said 'Can I give you a kiss?' which just made it worse."

The search continues for a match for the three-year-old, while Ava's medical team will look into alternative therapies as well as at the donor register.

The survival rate for her condition is just 20% and a bone marrow donor would give her the best chance she needs.

Meanwhile the family's social media plea - the Save Ava campaign - has encouraged more than 11,000 would-be donors to sign up across the UK.

The work has helped Marie cope during the most difficult of times.

She added: "Some days it's really hard, other days it's fine. If you take every day at 100mph you get through it.

"But if it's quiet, if Ava is at her Gran's, just for a split second I think what could happen."

Visit charity Anthony Nolan's website for more details on becoming a bone marrow donor and a free testing kit.