Cancer fight girl’s gift for hospital that saved her life
WHEN Charlotte Jennings was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer aged 11 she was not scared or upset – she just knew she had to get on with it.
Throughout a gruelling treatment programme to tackle the leukaemia which has left her with a number of ongoing health problems, Charlotte has remained positive.
Charlotte, now 15, from Gatley, Stockport, has already raised £18,000 for the ward at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where she was treated and is hoping to use her experiences to help other youngsters battling the deadly disease by becoming an ambassador for Kisdscan, the children’s cancer charity.
Talking about her diagnosis, she said: “I didn’t feel sad or scared at the time. My dad asked me if I knew what it was, and I said I did because I had seen it on Casualty.
“Then he asked me if I was ok with it, and I said no, I’m not ok with it, but I knew we were just going to have to deal with it.”
Charlotte, who lives with her dad Paul, mum Lynne and brother Michael, underwent four-and-a-half months of chemotherapy, and she reacted so badly to the drugs that she was confined to hospital for the entire time.
She was then allowed home for just three weeks before returning to the hospital for six weeks to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Charlotte said: “The treatment was really bad.
“The weird thing was that beforehand I wasn’t really that ill – I’d had a few nosebleeds but I felt fine in myself. When I started the treatment I got a really bad rash and I had abscesses on my body. It was a really hard time.”
Even when the leukaemia went into remission Charlotte’s battle was not over, as she then had to have treatment to counteract the side effects of the chemotherapy.
She said: “That made me really ill. My dad said I looked like the man on the moon. I have been left with some problems with my knees and ankles, and I will have to have treatment for that when I am a bit older and I have stopped growing.”
Charlotte, who attends Kingsway School, says she has remained positive by focusing on helping others, rather than on how ill she has been, and has raised an amazing £18,000 for the hospital ward that was her home for so long.
Charlotte said: “For my 13th and 14th birthdays I asked people to donate to the hospital instead of presents.
“I am hoping to do the same thing for my 16th in April, but to raise money for Kidscan.”
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and as part of efforts to raise awareness gold ribbons have been placed all over Gatley in a ‘Glow Gold September’ campaign co-ordinated through Facebook.
For more information visit kidscan. org.uk.