THE three-year-old battling two rare illnesses has continued to make good progress following last week's bone marrow transplant.

Tia Pugh is continuing to recover well from Tuesday's surgery but may face temporarily losing her hair and become unwell as a side effect.

Doctors at Great North Children's Hospital, Newcastle, have so far been pleased with Tia's progress following the procedure which it is hoped will help her combat two extremely rare immune deficiency disorders.

Tia, from Bath Road, Worcester, has been diagnosed with STAT1 deficiency and mycobacterium malmoense.

She is believed to be the only person in the world battling both conditions simultaneously.

Her dad Nick said at the weekend: "Tia's still doing well and the doctors are happy with her progress and so are we.

"Doctors have said that it is likely that she will lose her hair and become unwell as this is how a BMT procedure works.

"It does seem strange that we have to wait for Tia to become unwell first to get better as we have normally had to wait for her to get better.

"On average the sickness can appear within two weeks of the transplant but we've not experienced anything so far.

"Tia has been amusing the nurses and whenever the play co-ordinator comes into the room Tia will shout "Toy, toy" as she always has new toys for Tia.

"We are in the red zone still and this is where everything is strict in having to wash your hands and kept extremely clean as Tia has no immune system at the moment so we have to be very careful in her not catching any nasty bugs."

The family are planning to take Tia to nearby beaches when she moves into the purple zone and is allowed out but not in busy places.

Mr Pugh added: "She will still have to stay in the hospital at night but we are really looking forward to this.

"I think she will be very excited but is not allowed to touch or play in the sand."

For more updates on Tia's progress join the Tia Pugh Immune Deficiency group on Facebook.