A SELFLESS nurse says she is ready to miss Christmas at home in Bolton as she prepares to travel to West Africa and join the fight against the killer disease Ebola.

Sister Kathy Fallow, who works at the A&E department of the Royal Blackburn Hospital, is travelling to Sierra Leone as part of the next contingent of NHS volunteers to help people suffering with the deadly disease.

She will undergo eight days of intensive training at a Ministry of Defence facility in Yorkshire from December 15, before flying thousands of miles to Sierra Leone.

The mother-of-four will then spend four weeks nursing patients at one of a number of voluntary centres set up by international agencies.

Ms Fallow, who has worked for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust for nine months said she was ready for the challenge.

She said: “I’ll be away for Christmas which will be hard but my family have been very supportive of me.

“There are children in Sierra Leone who have no-one because of the Ebola virus and if I can make a difference to their lives at this time then I will have achieved what I wanted to do.”

Kathy is the first member of staff at the Trust to volunteer to go to West Africa to help in the response to the epidemic, which has killed almost 7,000 people.

Medical staff treating patients with Ebola are at the highest risk of catching the illness themselves, which is spread through direct, physical contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

She added: “This is something I’ve always wanted to do and I thought long and hard about it before deciding to go.

“I wanted to take my nursing skills to somewhere they are desperately needed and get a different level of nursing experience and bring this back to the UK with me to share it with others.

“I also wanted to show anyone else who is thinking about volunteering to do this that it is possible and my team here have been really supportive of my decision.”

Chris Pearson, Chief Nurse at the Trust, said: “I want to congratulate Kathy for taking this step to help others and we wish her well and a safe return.

“She is going to keep in touch with us with her blog and daily journal so we can read about what she is doing.

“I am very proud to have Kathy as part of our nursing team here.”