A HAMPSHIRE woman is trying to make her husband's last wish come true by having his baby three years after his death.

Hedge End mum of two Michelle Smith, 37, says it was husband Bob's dream to have a baby girl and, despite his death in 1999, she is determined to use controversial IVF treatment to make it come true.

She is angry at the postcode lottery which is forcing her to fork out more than £2,500 to realise husband Bob's dream.

Bob, an army warrant officer, agreed to have his sperm frozen when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

He proposed on the way home from the hospital and together the pair dreamed of having a child. Two emotionally draining miscarriages meant they resorted to IVF.

In a cruel twist of the knife, doctors refused to help them. So, they paid £3,000 themselves. The procedure worked and on September 3, 1999, Michelle found out she was pregnant.

The next day Bob died, aged just 41, but not before wishing for a baby sister for his unborn son. He was buried with a photo scan of his baby inside his coffin.

Rhys, now three, was eventually born in May 2000, weighing 5lb.

Now Michelle, 37, of Melbourne Road, who has another child from a previous relationship, Ashley, 11, wants to use her husband's frozen sperm to fall pregnant again.

"He would have loved Rhys," says Michelle. "He would have absolutely adored him and would have spoilt him rotten, he'd planned it all. He was delighted about Rhys but he desperately wanted a little sister to go with him.

"Everybody wants their husband's children, a family isn't a family without children."

But she has been angered by stories of other women in her position getting NHS help, when her bill stands at £6,000, with another £2,500 to pay for the next stage.

"I want a baby because I loved Bob and this is my last gift to him. But I am angry because I keep hearing about the NHS paying for other people to undergo it."

Her primary care trust - Eastleigh and Test Valley - only funds IVF in "exceptional cases" or if infertility was caused by medical negligence or misconduct.

Elsewhere in the region the policy is similar, with IVF being considered a "low funding priority", although most primary care trusts say they consider each case on its merits. Other areas of the country, such as the West Midlands and Newcastle, the NHS will pay for the treatment.

Health secretary Alan Milburn has had enough and has called in the national Institute of Clinical Excellence to come up with guidelines to level the playing field. Those guidelines will be published in the autumn and will be adopted nationwide.