Brave Holly Donald hugs her mum, Vicky, after undergoing more treatment for cancer at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. The 10-year-old has undergone 33 months of gruelling chemotherapy as she battles the disease, first discovered when she was eight.

Small Charity Week celebrates lesser known – and lesser funded – organisations. In honour of their hard work, we are highlighting some of the charities which helped Fife youngster Holly Donald during her ongoing battle with cancer

Despite years of gruelling cancer treatment, Holly Donald has positivity and strength far exceeding her 10 years.

The Ladybank youngster has been through 33 months of chemotherapy to treat tumours and may never be given the permanent all-clear, but she has never given up hope.

Holly was first diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type one (NF1) when she was eight weeks old. The condition causes tumours to grow on her nerve endings, as well as learning difficulties and mobility problems.

Aged three, she was also diagnosed with a brain tumour and began 21 months of chemotherapy.

But after four years clear of cancer, the brain tumour started growing again, and last year brave Holly started another 12 months of weekly treatment.

Now parents Vicky, 33, and Gary, 37, have opened up about the toll the cancer and chemotherapy has taken on Holly and the family, including their three other daughters, Hannah, 12, Kaylynn, 8, and six-year-old Tuliya.

After watching Holly ring the “end of treatment” bell at Tayside Children’s Hospital, marking the last of the chemotherapy sessions every Monday, Vicky said: “Seeing her ring that bell was bittersweet.

“It sounds selfish but I was watching the other parents with their kids ringing the bell and I was jealous because for most of them it will definitely be the last treatment and the end, whereas we know it probably won’t, and the cancer will probably come back.”

The family decided to share poignant photographs of the milestone and an earlier chemotherapy session, during which Holly heard she needed an emergency operation.

“We wanted to do this because it’s important to raise awareness, not just about the condition and charities but what chemo actually looks like,” Vicky said.

“It’s nothing like what they tell you or what you see on TV, with reclining seats and smiling nurses. There are hooks and pain and tears and fear.

“It sounds stupid but there is excitement too because you go every week and see the nurses and patients and the other mums – sometimes they are the only ones to get you through.”

Despite the risk of the tumour on her brain regrowing, Holly has stayed positive and tried to live as normal a childhood as possible, including attending school and playing with her friends and sisters.

“Holly takes everything on the chin, she just deals with it,” said Vicky.

“Even with everything she has going on, she still does fundraising and stuff to help other sick kids, it’s amazing.

“The two of us are so proud of her. We can’t fathom how she does it but if we could bottle it we would be millionaires.

“On a non-treatment day she can be like any other kid, at school and out on her bike. She has never not been able to do something any other kid can, she just finds a different way of doing it.

“The day she was told she needed surgery was bad. That day it was like she hit a brick wall. It was the first time we could see that she was scared. Even then, once she got used to the idea she went back to normal, playing with her sisters.”

Holly and her family are now trying to get back to normal after the last 12 months of chemotherapy and she is looking forward to being well enough to visit her grandparents’ home in Spain.

Despite Holly’s positivity, her parents are preparing for the possibility that the tumour may start to grow again.

Vicky said: “When she finished her treatment the first time we thought that was the end, so when it came back it just annihilated us.

“It sounds like I’m being negative but it’s better for us to be prepared for the worst so we don’t get sideswiped again.”

Since Holly’s diagnosis, the family has been supported by a number of local childhood cancer charities.

As this week marks Small Charity Week, Vicky highlighted the ways organisations in Tayside and Fife helped make life easier.

She said: “Small charities definitely don’t get the recognition or the money they deserve.

“Big charities get millions of pounds but with everything we’ve been through, it has been the local charities which have helped us get through it.”

Today, The Courier has used the poignant story of Holly Donald to highlight the work carried out by numerous groups across Tayside and Fife and further afield in this, Small Charity Week.

The 10-year-old’s fight against cancer has been gruelling, for Holly and her family and friends.

She and her parents, Vicky and Gary, bravely allowed us to highlight her ordeal, from learning of her latest diagnosis to the “bittersweet” moment she rang the bell marking the end of treatment at Ninewells Hospital.

They did so to shine a light on the help they have received from numerous organisations, without which, their struggle would have been so much harder.

Research by the Charities Aid Foundation, released last week, showed Scots are the most generous charity donors in the UK.

In 2018, on average, the monthly amount given, through either donation or by sponsorship, was £20 and 76% of people took part in a charitable or social activity.

Despite this, many small charities face a daily struggle to secure enough funding to maintain their vital work.

Households have limited spare funds and an increasingly cashless society makes donating harder.

Major charities, with national or global profiles, can often crowd out their smaller counterparts.

More than ever, for the sake of people like Holly, they need our support.