WENDY VICTORA @WendyVnwfdn

NICEVILLE — A 35-year-old mother of four is fighting for her life in a Pensacola hospital, several months after being diagnosed with leukemia.

Julie Williams was diagnosed in November after she went to the doctor with what she thought was a sore throat and the blood work came back with the alarming results. Chemotherapy worked initially, but now she needs a bone marrow transplant, according to her best friend Brigette Mathew of Navarre.

“She’s having a hard time breathing,” Mathew said. “It’s important for her to get a transplant immediately.”

Doctors have had a hard time finding a match for Williams, who is bi-racial and has a B+ positive blood type. Mathew said it is her understanding that the donor would need to have one black and one white parent and match her friend’s blood type. But she added that universal blood types also are acceptable for bone marrow donations.

Willams was born in Chipley but has lived in the Niceville and Fort Walton Beach area since she was 10. Williams’ children, who range from 2 to 17 years old, are staying with family members.

“She’s the kindest, most loving, passionate person that I know,” Mathew said. “She cries every time she watches a commercial with kids starving on TV. Everything means something to her.

“She loves on a different level,” she added. “She loves 100 percent with her heart.”

To find out about becoming a donor, go to https://www.oneblood.org/special-donations/bone-marrow.stml.