Dear Sir,

You may remember my Daughter Freya as a skinny six year old, wobbly, in a wheelchair, carrying a sick bowl because she was undergoing chemotherapy for an inoperable brain tumour.

Well here she is now! 7 years old, fully mobile and 6 months in remission. Scans are clear and she is just the same as any other 7 year old girl. She loves school, reading and adores anything to do with unicorns.

Freya is a social butterfly back at school full time and on evenings and weekends attends Brownies, swimming lessons and dance classes.

She is simply living life and the difference in her is remarkable. The team at the RVI are overwhelmed by Freya’s response to Chemo. They are hopeful she’ll go on to lead a normal happy life alongside her new baby Sister Neeve.

Sadly this isn’t the case for all families we have met along the way. Many lives have been lost, children who we’ve met and grown to love where their parents have become our forever friends. There are new children on the ward every time we go, diagnosed with a form of childhood cancer.

As a family we are at the point where we want to give something back. We will never be able to repay the staff of ward 4/14 at the RVI for giving us our beautiful Freya back, but we hope we can support other families going through the process of being an oncology family.

It’s my aim now to fundraise on behalf of the ward and the other supporting charities.

We are starting with a Charity Ball at Woodham Golf and Country Club on Saturday 24th February. Tickets are £30 per person and include a carvery meal, and entertainment all evening with all proceeds to the Hospital Ward.

We’d be grateful for any donations for raffle prizes and would appreciate local businesses offering donations of anything from shampoo to a meal for two.

Please contact me on E-mail: rebecca.anderson259@gmail.com

Becky Anderson

Freya 1

As sent to the Editor of the Newton News. If you have a story that we may be interested in, please send to syd@newtonnews.co.uk