STV CHILDREN’S APPEAL CHILD OF COURAGE
Pake
TV favourite Lorraine Kelly and Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri teamed up to give inspirational schoolgirl Katie Pake a double surprise.
As Katie was leaving a London hotel with her mum, Lorraine was waiting outside to send them off to the famous Abbey Road studios, a huge treat for music fan Katie.
And during an access-all-areas tour, Sharleen told Katie she was a Pride of Scotland winner and presented her with a Gibson electric guitar, courtesy of Gear4Music.
Sharleen said of Katie: “The influence she has on other people when maybe they think things are difficult, and they look at Katie and see what she’s been through, and where she is and how she gets on with it. It’s a real honour to give her this award.”
Katie has been helping and inspiring others despite her own battle with cancer. Her parents took the keen swimmer to the GP when she complained a sore knee was affecting her performance. Tests revealed she had osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. Intensive chemotherapy failed to eradicate the tumour, and it was discovered the disease had spread to her thigh and spine. Doctors told her parents she had a 20% chance of survival.
They tried a new type of chemo, which thankfully eradicated the cancer in her thigh and spine but it did not work on the tumour on her leg. Their only option was to amputate the limb, in an operation days before her 10th birthday.
Since then, Katie has made it her mission to increase awareness of childhood cancer and has raised thousands of pounds. She’s an ambassador for the children’s cancer charity Love Oliver. Katie, who has now been given the all clear, has won gold medals at the junior and senior Scottish Disability Sport National Swimming Championships. She also plays football and is a wheelchair racer.
Mum Carol said: “Katie wants to be a champion for all children affected by cancer. She wants to swim, play football, skydive, represent Scotland in the Paralympics and maybe one day become a surgeon, like the ones who saved her life.”
“And most of all she wants to make a difference.”