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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
James J Turner & Matthew Dresch

Mum can't afford to live after giving up work to care for daughter, 3, fighting cancer

A mum cannot afford to live after she was forced to give up work so she could care for her daughter as she fights cancer.

Wendy Larson was distraught when she found out her three-year-old girl Mila had a tumour across the whole left side of her brain.

The 36-year-old mother was left in shock when she saw the size of her daughter's tumour on a CT scan, GrimsbyLive reports.

Wendy has not been able to work as she is constantly taking the youngster to appointments - and she now fears she won't be able to afford the heating and electricity.

After the tumour was discovered at Grimsby's Diana Princess of Wales Hospital, Mila was transferred to Sheffield Children's Hospital for surgery to remove them.

A CT scan found a tumour across the whole left side of Mila's brain (Wendy Larson WS)
Wendy knew something was wrong when she saw Mila had reduced movement in her leg (Wendy Larson WS)

Mila, from Grimsby, went in for the procedure on September 7 and started making a good recovery - pushing herself to walk again just days after.

However, the results from the surgery showed that she needed further and more intense treatment, as while doctors were able to completely remove the tumour, it has a very high chance of returning.

Doctors found that the tumour was a grade three Ependymoma - a rare, fast growing and malicious tumour.

To battle it Mila would need a very special type of radiotherapy called protontherapy as well as chemotherapy.

"It's something you wouldn't want to see anyone going through and it's the last thing I'd wish on any parent," Wendy told Grimsby Live.

"We noticed she had reduced movement in her leg and that instantly sent alarm bells through me because that was her predominant side."

Wendy is relying on her savings and financial support from her sister to survive (Wendy Larson WS)

Tearfully, she added: "When we saw the CT scan, we thought that was it. It was so big that I didn't think she'd still be here. The staff at Grimsby hospital did an amazing job though and got everything sorted quickly when they noticed something wasn't right."

There are only two places in the UK that specialise in performing protontherapy, these being in Manchester and London.

However, if these wards are full, then the family will be forced to travel to Essen in Germany which will cost them around £3,000 in health insurance alone.

As the family have been travelling back and forth to Sheffield Children's Hospital over the last few weeks, mum Wendy has been unable to work, leaving her heavily reliant on savings and financial support from her sister Ruth Larson, 35 but is scared it won't be enough.

With the cost of living crisis having a large impact on energy prices, the two sisters have turned to online crowdfunding to see if anyone would be willing to help them.

"Obviously I cant go to work at the moment because of Mila's condition and the amount of appointments she's having. I'm trying to take it all in but it's really overwhelming," continued Ms Larson.

"It's a big worry because you don't want to end up not being able to afford heating and electricity and with my child being ill that's the last thing you want.

"We've also been driving to Sheffield and back quite a lot and the price of fuel is really high right now as well, it just impacts us so dramatically."

Both Wendy and her sister say they are immensely proud of Mila and how she's persevered throughout all of her treatment over the past few weeks.

Wendy said: "We call her 'our little warrior' as she seems to be takin everything in her stride.

"She's got so much more to endure but to deal with what she's been through, I'm amazed that she's still smiling. We noticed when they were doing physio with her, she was trying her hardest to make people happy, as much as she was tired."

The family have already raised £1,035 through their online fundraiser which aims to help Wendy keep the lights on in her house while Mila continues her on-going treatment. If you would like to donate to the family, you can via the link here.

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