Brave Lydia’s book for charity

LYDIA Yilmaz didn’t want other children to feel sad as they face the same battle she’s had with leukaemia.

So she made a story book to help other youngsters.

Now the five-year-old’s efforts will help bring more clinical trials to young cancer and blood disorder patients in Scotland through the Schiehallion Appeal.

During her treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Lydia – who is now in remission – wrote stories and drew pictures to keep her spirits up, which were turned into a book, I Like to Go to the Hospital.

Featuring her own illustrations, 500 copies are now being sold to raise money for the Schiehallion Appeal after her parents crowdfunded the cash needed to print it.

Mum Selen, 34, and dad Ozgur, 35, from Glasgow, said they are “so proud” of WHEN Claire MacQueen fought a rare form of leukaemia as a schoolgirl, she swore she never wanted to see the inside of another hospital.

Now the mum of two is a nurse who helps others battling serious illness.

The 36-year-old, from Oban, recently returned to Glasgow to be reunited with some of the medical staff who cared for her.

And today, she is backing the Schiehallion Appeal, a bid by Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity to bring more clinical trials to young cancer and blood disorder patients in Scotland.

Claire believes having access to a clinical trial as a teenager may have been what saved her life.

And she wants other children to have the same opportunity as the campaign, backed by the Record, aims to raise £500,000.

Claire said: “I was 14 when I started suffering from shortness of breath and feeling tired.

“I was on a skiing trip in France with my family when my mum started to notice bruises appearing on my arms and legs.”

Claire’s GP at home was alarmed at the results of a blood test and referred her to the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, for more tests.

In March 1996, Claire was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia – a form rarely diagnosed in people under 40.

She described it as “the worst day of my life”.

The schoolgirl was transferred to the former Yorkhill hospital in Glasgow to begin treatment and met nurse Ann Dugan, who was a “ray of sunshine” for her family.

Claire said: “She made me laugh when I was facing the most daunting future and assured me that everything would be OK.”

She began her chemotherapy immediately but became seriously unwell after contracting septicaemia.

After recovering, she completed a further three rounds of the treatment before entering a chemotherapy trial, which she believes helped her beat the disease for good after around nine months in hospital. She said: “I drew the short straw, as I considered it at the time, and had an additional pulse of chemotherapy.

“I just wanted to go home.

“Now I’m glad I had that extra chemo as it may well have been what finally cured me of leukaemia.” Claire was just leaving Yorkhill when the Schiehallion ward – named after the Perthshire Munro To support the Schiehallion Appeal and donate £5, text CHILD to 70707 or visit www.GlasgowChildrensHospitalCharity.org/donate