Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
My girl’s £1million legacy of hope
Mum on cancer mission
SNUGGLING up to her daughter Sienna, Lucy Jones knew this would be one of their last moments together.
Just days later, the angelic two-year-old lost her cancer battle.
And in a bitter-sweet moment, five days after Sienna’s death from neuroblastoma, Lucy gave birth to her brother Jamie.
So she has spent the last eight years raising £910,000 for a charity she set up with the mum of another young victim.
Lucy said: “Watching your child die is overwhelming.
“I remember lying next to her, my little unborn boy kicking my tummy and my little girl resting her head against my forehead, knowing I was losing her.”
The Norfolk-born mum gave birth to Sienna at London’s Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in 2007. A few months later she and husband Oliver relocated to Sydney, Australia.
In March 2008 doctors found a huge tumour growing near Sienna’s adrenal gland, and diagnosed neuroblastoma – a cancer that forms in nerve tissue. Sienna had chemotherapy, radiotherapy and stem cell treatment.
Former John Lewis buyer Lucy said: “It’s horrendous for children. The chemo causes
ulceration and they’re in isolation for a month.”
Sienna went into remission, but then doctors found another tumour – and then another.
Lucy said: “It was the end of the road. It was devastating.” A gala dinner raised £34,000, then Lucy founded Neuroblastoma Australia to boost research.
She said: “These kids should have their lives ahead of them.”
See neuroblastoma.org.au.