A young mother-of-four has died after a world-wide search by doctors failed to find a cure for her heart condition.

Emma Hall died in hospital on Easter Saturday aged just 22, after losing a six month fight for life against a mystery virus which attacked her heart and left her needing a transplant.

Her devastated children now face growing up without a mum.

Emma was struck down a mystery virus in September.

The virus attacked her heart and left her needing a transplant.

But when the transplant was rejected, surgeons issued an internet plea to colleagues around the globe after trying every treatment known, but none came in time to save the devoted mother.

Emma's parents Carol and Sydney, of Redesdale Road, Southwick, Sunderland, paid tribute to their daughter's brave battle through a heart transplant and months of intensive treatment.

Emma, of Red House, Sunderland, leaves her childhood sweetheart Anthony and their four children, Keon, five, Corey, four, Kyla, two, and Kaye, one, who was just six months old when his mum was taken ill.

Carol, 47, a housekeeper in Sunderland Royal Hospital, said she thought her daughter had simply caught the flu when she fell short of breath at the end of last September.

But as Emma's condition deteriorated she had to call 999 and doctors at Sunderland Royal Hospital discovered a virus had swollen her heart to three times its normal size.

She was then rushed to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for life saving treatment.

Her mum Carol said: "They closed the Tyne Tunnel to take her to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and told us she wouldn't make the journey.

"But she was then in intensive care for two and a half weeks and then a heart came in - and after the operation she was a different girl."

Emma had the transplant in October. But despite the heart being a near-perfect match, Emma's body rejected it in a matter of weeks and gradually the 22-year-old was left bed-ridden.

Doctors tried every known treatment to make her body accept the new heart.

Hospital staff, who were in tears on hearing the news of her death, cut and styled her hair as they prayed for an answer arriving from medical experts across the globe.

Carol said: "It was 99 per cent certain the heart would suit Emma but the antibodies just kept attacking it. She spent nearly seven months in that transplant unit. They had never had anybody there for so long.

"The doctors put Emma on the internet all over the world hoping for an email but nothing came."

Emma, who is also survived by stepbrother Andrew, 31, and stepsister Elise, 26, went to school at nearby Redhouse and Castle View, after leaving Bishop Harland School, where both Keon, a boy scout, and Corey now attend.

As a youngster she brought tears to her parents' eyes as they watched her perform at the Sunderland Empire in performances of Oliver and The Music Man, and met partner Anthony when she was 15.

Emma was able to come home briefly last month, when her dad took her to the beach at Marsden, and was still asking nurses to help build up her strength in the days before she died after being moved to St. Benedict's Hospice.

One of her favourite childhood songs, Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You, which Emma used to sing down the phone with relatives in Southampton, will be played at her cremation next week.

Dad Sidney, 56, a fabricator and welder at HMH Stanley, said: "At the end they said they had tried everything. But she never complained and was fighting to her last breath." Carol added: "She was a lovely girl. She lived for her children. She never ever left them, wherever she went. And she was so brave it was unbelievable."

Emma's funeral will be held at Sunderland Crematorium on Monday at 3pm, which will be followed by a gathering of friends and family at Red House WMC.