A WOMAN who has undergone controversial IVF treatment to create a baby genetically similar to her four-year-old son is several months pregnant.

Michelle Whitaker and her husband, Jayson, who have family in County Durham, were desperate to create a baby who could provide their son, Charlie - who suffers from a blood disorder called diamond blackfan anaemia - with a life-saving stem cell transplant.

Their requests for the right to use an IVF technique that would result in a baby were turned down by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

But they continued their search for the treatment until the Reproductive Genetic Institute in Chicago, US, agreed to carry out the procedure.

Now Michelle, from Oxfordshire, is several months pregnant, after two embryos were successfully implanted in her womb in October.

Her mother, June Kynoch, who lives in Chester-le-Street, said that if Charlie was cured, she would continue with her fundraising efforts to pay for research into the condition.

She said: "Michelle is pregnant and it's all going to plan. We're chuffed to bits.

"There's no full-time research into the condition at the moment, so we've contacted a researcher.

"But we need £50,000 a year to fund this full-time research."

Mrs Kynoch has organised a sponsored coast-to-coast cycle ride in May, in which she will be taking part, to raise money for the research.