The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Agatha, 9, shines for children’s star awards
Fife girl chosen as face of national scheme
A Cupar girl has been chosen to star as the face of an awards scheme which champions the courage of children with cancer.
Agatha King, who won a two-and-ahalf-year battle with leukaemia, appears on posters to be displayed in hospitals and shops across the UK in support of Cancer Research UK’S children and young people star award.
The awards mark the strength shown by youngsters who have been diagnosed with the disease.
Nine-year-old Agatha, a pupil at St Columba’s RC Primary in Cupar, is encouraging anyone who knows a young cancer patient to nominate them for the honour in the run-up to Christmas.
Everyone nominated will receive a trophy, a £50 Tkmaxx gift card, a T-shirt and a certificate signed by a host of famous faces – actress Emma Thompson, This Morning’s Dr Ranj and children’s entertainer Mister Maker.
Mum Karen, 43, said: “Agatha loves Christmas and we’re all really looking forward to celebrating together at home this year as a family.
“She sings in the school choir, has been learning to play the piano and is proud to be able to play Jingle Bells already.
“Agatha lost her hair during treatment for cancer but it’s grown back in so long now that she’s keen to get it cut and donate the hair to the Little Princess Trust so it can be made into a wig for another child getting treated right now for cancer.”
Around 140 children are diagnosed with cancer in Scotland every year and more than eight in 10 of them survive for at least five years.
Agatha was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in February 2015 when she was just four.
Chicken pox put her in intensive care the following year, while a fungal infection meant she needed a daily IV infusion which took up to five hours a day for six months.
Midway through treatment she was invited to present a posy to the Queen at the opening of the Scottish Parliament.
Agatha, who has a brother Bacchus, 7, and sister Meredith, 4, had her final chemotherapy treatment in July 2017, before travelling to London to the Cancer Research UK star party.
The young star awards are supported by Tkmaxx, which has raised more than £34 million for research into children’s cancer.
To nominate a child for an award visit cruk.org/childrenandyoungpeople