DOCTORS in Southampton were this week keeping a close eye on Romsey schoolboy Joshua Hartley who is recovering from a bone marrow transplant.

Joshua, 12, has been making steady progress since the transplant in June, when his mother Allison was the donor.

But he was taken to Southampton General Hospital on Wednesday in last week because of swelling in his hands and a high temperature.

This week, he was having a minor operation (to adjust a line inserted previously) and further tests.

"He is in Southampton General Hospital so they can keep an eye on him. It has been confirmed that he has mild GVHD (graft versus host disease).

"That is a shame as it seemed Joshua had turned a corner the week before with only occasional sickness and great weight gain.

"So it's a real battle in the Hartley household at the moment. I think we feel we can fight one battle at a time but not two or three together. We welcome your prayers as always," Joshua's father said.

Joshua and his brothers Nathan, 10, Daniel, eight, and Luke, four, were all diagnosed last November as suffering from X-linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (XLP) or Duncan's Disease.

Daniel is due to have his transplant as Great Ormond Street Hospital at the end of the month and went there last week for pre-transplant tests.

"He did very well and everything looks set for the transplant," said his father.

Nathan needed his first day off school ill in seven years last week when a routine blood test showed a low-level trace of the glandular fever virus EBV.

But Mr Hartley said this week that medical experts had put the trace down to a 'blip' and that by Wednesday, Nathan was EBV-free and back at school.