A WELSH couple has offered to adopt the children of a Ghanaian woman who died of cancer after being taken from a UK hospital and deported to Africa.

Friends of Ama Sumani, who died last week, said she had wanted her son and daughter brought up in the UK despite being forced to leave the Cardiff hospital where she was receiving treatment.

Janet Symmons, who campaigned for Ms Sumani to stay in the UK, said the couple from North Wales, who want to remain anonymous, first got in touch while her friend was still alive.

Mrs Symmons said Ms Sumani had spoken to them before she died and expressed her wish for her children - Mary, 16, and Samede, seven - to be adopted.

She said, "Ama knew she had relatives who would look after them, but she also knew things are not the same in Ghana as they are here regarding education and health.

"She didn't bear anybody a grudge and was very grateful for what the people in Wales were doing, especially her treatment in Ghana being paid for by money raised here.

"She knew if it was left to the Welsh people alone she would have come back - it was only down to a few people that she was made to leave."

Ms Sumani had been receiving dialysis three times a week in Cardiff after her kidneys were damaged by cancer, but was forced to leave in January when her visa expired.

Her deportation sparked a highlevel campaign, backed by Annan Cato, the High Commissioner for Ghana in London, to get the Government to reverse the decision.

When that proved unsuccessful, supporters in the UK helped raise cash to pay for treatment in Ghana.

The Border and Immigration Agency had insisted her case was properly dealt with. It argued the UK could not offer healthcare to people with no legal right to remain here solely because similar treatment was not available in their own country.