Mum shares daughter's cancer story for TV advert

"There are no words to describe how you feel; your world turns upside down," said a Leicestershire mother whose daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer at just a year old.

Gemma and her daughter Nancy from Castle Donington will feature in a new national TV advert to help raise awareness for Young Lives vs Cancer, a charity that supported the family during her treatment.

The now two-year-old was diagnosed with ependymoma in 2023 and had two brain surgeries, then high-dose chemotherapy treatment to prevent the cancer from coming back.

"The more donations the advert brings in, the better, as it's our way of saying thank you to the charity for all the support they've given us," said Gemma.

In October 2023, Gemma, 32, said her daughter started being sick and then began to experience tremors.

"I still get cold shivers now thinking about it; it's still not sunk in what she went through," she said.

Nancy originally received treatment at Royal Derby Hospital before being transferred to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, where she had two brain surgeries and 13 months of chemotherapy.

Gemma was not able to work during the treatment, so the family lived on one wage while facing extra costs during stays in hospital.

"It was hard; we spent more time at hospital than we did at home," said Gemma.

"To be apart from my five-year-old son and for Nancy to be apart from him was hard, too."

Young Lives vs Cancer provided the family with a grant at the start of Nancy's treatment, which helped with the extra costs. It has also been a source of emotional support throughout the toddler's ordeal.

After brain surgery, Nancy had to go through several milestones for the second time, which included learning to crawl.

Since getting the all clear on 6 January this year, Gemma said the family were now trying to return to "normal".

"It took her a while to adjust; Nancy is doing things any toddler would do, such as drawing on walls and playing around in mud," said Gemma.

"We will try and get back to normal, but it's hard to remember what that was like.

Gemma said there was a chance Nancy's cancer could come back one day because she was too young to receive radiotherapy treatment.

"We now want to go on lots of holidays, see things we want to see together and just spend time with her while she is ok," said Gemma.

"Hopefully, the advert will bring in more donations, and we want to make sure we raise awareness to help diagnose brain tumours early."

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