DESPERATION has turned to celebration for an Ilkley mum-of-four who will collect her first class law degree a week on Saturday.

With four growing children to feed, Ruth Wood feared the worst when her police constable husband was struck down with cancer for the second time five years ago.

Mrs Wood was a part-time carer with few qualifications to show from her time at Ilkley Grammar School and knew she could not get the kind of job which would pay her enough to raise her family.

In a desperate bid to increase her chances of finding a good job she enrolled at the Open University, studying social sciences and then law.

"I started doing it because I panicked about money and needed something to take my mind off everything that was going on," said Mrs Wood.

Husband Mark had been treated for Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 1995, but it had gone away. When it came back again in 1998, it was in a much more severe form requiring debilitating treatment including chemotherapy.

"When the cancer came back I panicked because he was really, really poorly - and his money went on half pay," said 43-year-old Mrs Wood.

While he was being treated at Cookridge Hospital, Mrs Wood studied in the evenings after putting the children to bed at the family home off Skipton Road.

But when Mrs Wood received her first batch of books for the law course, one look at the massive arcane tomes almost frightened her into sending them straight back again.

The only thing that stopped her dropping out was the fact that she had received financial help from the Open University and she felt she should carry on to repay the debt.

Mrs Wood said: "When I went for my first tutorial I thought they were all clever, but later when I realised we were all in the same boat I made friends and set up support groups."

As Mrs Wood's confidence grew and she prospered on the course, there was good news on the medical front.

Her husband responded to treatment and eventually went back to work, finally being given the all clear in August last year. When his health returned, Mr Wood supported his wife in her academic endeavours.

Not long later Mrs Wood received the news that she had, after five years of study, been awarded a First Class Bachelor of Law degree.

While awaiting her results she had applied and got a job as a police support officer at Pudsey, a position she loves and which allows her to dispense legal advice to members of the public when called upon.

Mrs Wood now has to decide whether she wants to stay on with the police or continue her studies to become a lawyer.

"I am in the middle of deciding what to do but have enrolled with an agency looking at legal work," she said.

In January, Mrs Wood began a course of further study for a Master's Degree in Social Policy and Criminology.

And as a reward for the family's reversal of fortune, Mrs Wood treated herself to a dream car, a black Beetle Cabriolet, at the beginning of this month.

But for the moment she is looking forward to the degree ceremony at the Harrogate International Centre on Saturday, April 3, which she will attend with Mark, 42, and her four children - Justine, eight, Alexandra, 11, Kate, 13 and Benn, 22.

A spokesman for the Open University said: "Studying with the OU has given more than 11,500 new graduates an inspirational learning experience.

"For many, their studies increased their career opportunities leading to promotions, career changes, or gave them the incentive to start their own business ventures."