Little Mix give Lily wings
Great news as treatment begins to work and stars offer support
A STAGE- STRUCK school girl battling a lethal cancer is to meet her all-time favourite pop idols.
Pint-sized Perth performer Lily Douglas, nine, will meet the girl band Little Mix when they perform in Dundee on June 29.
It is the latest in a series of highs for the trophy-winning ballet, tap and street dancer who was invited to audition for Scottish Ballet.
Just this week, her mum Jane told The Sunday Post they have had results from her scans which are excellent.
“The results of Lily’s latest scan are back and it’s good news. Her lung that had lots of spotting in it is clear and there are only two small spots left on her left lung.
“They show her shoulder and leg are also responding well to the treatment. Everything seems to be moving in the right direction.”
Lily, who has 84 awards, has also made a new friend in Miss Scotland, Lucy Kerr, who visited her recently at The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
And despite undergoing gruelling chemotherapy, the tiny dancer aims to compete in the UDO Scottish Street Dance Championships in Glasgow on June 24, as well as taking part in Race for Life in Perth next month in aid of other cancer sufferers.
Jane Douglas said: “She is taking it all in her stride.”
Jane took her only daughter to the doctors a few weeks back with a suspected dance injury – a sore lump on her shoulder. There were no other symptoms.
But after being rushed through tests, her family was given the news that Lily has Stage 4 Ewing Sarcoma cancer – the most severe form of the rare bone cancer.
Jane said: “I had never thought that I might lose my baby. I broke down and begged the doctors to save her.”
Lily began chemotherapy in May and will have to endure 14 bouts of the treatment that kills off her blood cells as it tackles the cancer.
Pop stars Little Mix. The treatment also causes repeated vomiting and hair and weight loss.
Later this year, she faces surgery to have the bone beneath her knee removed and replaced with a metal plate, plus radiotherapy. And still her indomitable spirit
shines through. A cautiously optimistic Jane also revealed: “Lily’s doctor told me the lump on her shoulder has disappeared and that’s an indication that the treatment is working.”
Jane, who has given up her job as a manager in Primark in Perth for a few months to care for Lily, added: “The doctors are amazed by her strength and courage. They say she is exceptional.”
Lily has been buoyed by a tsunami of goodwill as word spread about her plight.
Last month she and her mum were flown to London where they had afternoon tea in Covent Garden and Lily got to dance on three West End stages.
She then met dance legend Arlene Phillips at Pineapple Studios and also took a trip to the top of the Shard to meet the cast of Mamma Mia.
Jane said: “She is so excited to now be meeting Little Mix. She loves them and knows all of the words to their songs and sings along.
“I am just praying that she is well enough to make it on the day.
“Lily loved meeting Miss Scotland too. Lucy came to the hospital in Edinburgh and spent five hours with us. ”
A crowd funding appeal has raised more than £24,000 for Lily.
Jane said: “We are so grateful for the support of family and friends and for the kindness of strangers. We are not spending it.
“That money means that if things don’t work out here, and Lily needs treatment abroad, we have a life line.”
Jane’s is also concentrating on the end goal – New Year 2018 when Lily’s treatment could be complete and a success.
“We’re thinking about a trip to Disney World in Florida next summer,” she said. “But there’s a lot to get through first.”
She’s so excited to meet them. I am just praying that she is well enough to make it on the day.