A former Bradford nurse has received a knighthood from the Queen of the Netherlands for her work in helping sickle cell anaemia patients.

Soroya Beacher, who is half Dutch, first came across the illness when working as a nurse in Leeds.

She left Bradford 13 years ago to go to Holland for a year to learn the language and find out more about the country, but never returned.

And now she has been honoured for her work in helping patients suffering with the crippling blood disease and setting up a charity called Oskar.

Miss Beacher, 41, said she has had an uphill fight in getting the disease taken seriously in Holland.

"The worst thing was the lack of interest from the medical side," she said. "A lot of patients have not been very well treated over the last 20 years here and that's because Holland didn't think it would have a problem with it.

"I remember speaking to one doctor and he patted me on the head and told me not to worry about it. People have listened to that and the growth in treating SCA has slipped."

Appalled by the lack of support for sufferers, Miss Beacher set up the charity to highlight the disease among the medical community and to provide information.

"I got in touch with a charity in England and they said we could use the name but they couldn't help with funds," she said.

"I came back and set up a committee and used my own money and donations to set it up."

The hard work paid off, and she was rewarded with the title Ridder in de orde van Oranje Nassau, the Dutch equivalent of a British knighthood. When she went to the awards ceremony in Amsterdam she knew she would receive one of three orders, but had no idea at which level.

"When I found out I was getting it I thought I was going to get a little ribbon or something," she said.

"I didn't realise how special it was here. And then of course I was knighted as well.

"There were only 50 of the 800 women nominated for awards in Holland that were knighted. When I saw the medal I nearly fell off my perch, I didn't realise!"

She has no idea who nominated her for the award, but said she intended to use it to her advantage.

"For myself it was obviously nice, but I'm more happy for Oskar. I'm going to use the title everywhere and get some more help."