Isla’s mum is up for a top award
Public can have their say until voting closes on September 15
AN INSPIRATIONAL mother from Hinckley has been shortlisted for a national award for her “outstanding commitment” to her daughter Isla’s charity.
Katherine Tansey has been shortlisted from more than 15,000 nominations for the JustGiving Outstanding Commitment of the Year Award.
Katherine has raised more than £17,000 in memory of her daughter, Isla, who tragically died at the age of seven last July, following a number of traumatic and invasive treatments including surgery and radiotherapy.
Brave Isla, known locally as Isla the Smiler, touched the hearts of people across the world with her global campaign to support her fight against spinal cancer. The youngster started the #islastones campaign, encouraging people paint stones.
In August 2017, Isla had been left unable to walk and was soon diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
The tumour in Isla’s spine had left her paralysed from the chest down. Doctors broke the devastating news to Isla’s family that there were no further treatment options for her.
Isla’s parents, Katherine and Simon, decided that they would make the most of their time left together with Isla.
Isla loved to smile, so they both created a social media campaign encouraging people to paint stones and hide them for others to find and take selfies with.
People were asked to share their selfies on social media using #islastones and hide the stones for the next person.
Hundreds of people from all over the world took part in the around the and hide world to colourful campaign, including Australian researchers based in the Antarctica and the holiday company, Thomas Cook.
Katherine and Simon said that they wanted to create a legacy of love and smiles in honour of their beloved daughter.
The campaign also helped to raise awareness of DIPG and childhood cancers, which the pair hope will help contribute towards crucial funds to fund research to find a cure for DIPG.
Currently, DIPG has a zero per cent survival rate with just 10 per cent surviving two years following their diagnosis. Less than one per cent survive for five years, with the average survival just nine months from diagnosis.
Katherine has been raising funds for a dedicated DIPG researcher and has teamed up with the charity Abbie’s Army. Abbie’s Army also raises awareness of DIPG, which affects 450 children in the UK each year.
Katherine said: “Since the heartbreaking day we lost our beautiful daughter, Isla Smiler, we have wanted to try and continue her legacy of smiles through #islastones but also fundraise to stop other families from losing their beautiful children.
“Once your child is diagnosed with DIPG there is 0% survival and most children only live approximately nine months. Funding into childhood cancers is limited so as a family we want to try and make a difference to other families affected by childhood cancer.”
To vote for Katherine to win JustGiving Outstanding Commitment of the Year Award please visit: https://pages. contact.justgiving.com/JustGivingVoting2019/. Voting closes at midnight on Sunday 15th September. To donate to Katherine’s JustGiving page please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/islastones.