THE distraught mother of Bolton youngster Emma Standish today made a frantic nationwide appeal for a heart donor after being told by doctors that her daughter has only three days to live.

Ten-year-old Emma, struck down by a rare illness which caused her heart problems in the summer, is today undergoing major surgery to put in a mechanical heart.

She was flown from the High Dependency Unit at Pendlebury Children's Hospital to a specialist unit at Newcastle this morning after suffering kidney failure.

Surgeons will put in a mechanical heart which is just a temporary measure to keep the youngster alive.

Emma's aunt, Dawn Cartwright, said: "It has been a very traumatic. I don't know where her mum is finding her hidden strength to cope with all of this.

"It is just awful -- there are no words to express how the family feels."

Emma, a pupil at St Peter's Primary School, Farnworth, was struck down at the end of June.

And within four months, Emma went from a normal, healthy child into a wheelchair-bound youngster.

Staff at St Peter's School were today devastated by the news of Emma's relapse.

School secretary Beverley Bale was in tears as she said: "How do we tell the children?

"Two of Emma's teachers went to see her in the high dependency unit at the hospital last night. They have been told that if she doesn't get a heart soon then there isn't a lot the hospital can do for her."

A major TV publicity campaign in a national search for a donor was launched today and Emma has been placed at the top of the list.

Emma's twin brother, Adam, and older brother Christopher, 15, are being looked after by their grandparents.