Hearing of any child suffering with cancer is heart wrenching at the best of times, but when you find out one of your daughters best friends at nursery, the same age, the same little, innocent person that’s only been living their little life for 3 years, has been diagnosed, trust me it hits home.

For this reason I have decided to run the London Marathon 2023 and raise funds for Children with Cancer UK.  

"Children with Cancer UK is the leading national children's charity dedicated to the fight against childhood cancer; we actively raise and invest money for vital specialist research to save the lives of every child with cancer and keep their family together. Our vision is a world where every child diagnosed with cancer gets to ring their end of cancer treatment bell."

'Starry Darcy' - as told by her mum Emily:

My beautiful baby girl was 3 years old in April 2020 when I took her to the GP with a swollen tummy. That day, our lives changed forever…

On arrival at the hospital, the doctor felt Darcy’s tummy and said he could feel a lump. They did lots of tests and an ultrasound scan, whilst I waited anxiously. Later, a consultant and nurse came to see me and broke the news; they suspected she had a tumour and we would need to go to Addenbrookes hospital. I burst into tears. How could it be possible that my beautiful baby girl, at just 3 years old, who had been happily playing at home with her younger brother, was so ill?

I then had to ring my husband who was in the car park, and not allowed into the hospital due to COVID restrictions, and tell him his daughter had cancer. He was allowed in to see her briefly before having to go home and leave us. The next day, we took Darcy to Addenbrookes and spoke with two consultants. They explained she had a large tumour on her right kidney and that she would need chemotherapy to shrink the tumour before they’d be able to remove it. 

For the chemo, a line needed to be fitted, but first a CT scan was taken to check it was safe to operate. The scan showed it was even worse; the tumour had a growth that was spreading through her entire body… they said it was like a tree planting down its roots. The tumour had spread to her veins, heart, lungs, liver and down her legs. For 7 months

Darcy had almost 40 sessions of chemotherapy, 10 sessions of radiotherapy, bypass surgery on her heart and then eventually surgery to remove the tumour.

January 7th was Darcy’s last chemotherapy session, but we needed to wait until the end of the month for her final scan. On 4th February 2021, we finally got the call to say her results had been reviewed and she had the all clear! 

Darcy is now in remission, but we’ll always live in fear of the long term side effects and the risk of relapse. But, for now she is clear, living life as every little girl should be! I’m so proud of her!

I appreciate times are really tough at the moment, but without our support these charities cannot continue and children like Darcy, and families who have been through / are currently going through these awful times will be the ones who are affected. You never know when you might be in need of their help so please, please anything you can give will be truly appreciated.