A 13-year-old girl faces months of gruelling chemotherapy after her mum made a heartbreaking discovery while brushing her hair.
Kerry Minshall became worried when she came across a lump on Holly-Louise Edwards' neck.
Following a visit to the doctor, Holly-Louise was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last month.
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Mum-of-two Kerry, aged 39, told StokeonTrentLive : “It was hard to spot any symptoms.
"She had tiredness and a bit of weight loss. I was doing her hair one day and there was a big lump on her neck.
"She said it had been there for a while.
“She has such long hair which she never ties back so I never saw it.
"When I saw the lump I was quite surprised at how large it was. We got her to the doctors straight away and they were very good at getting her referred to the hospital.
“She had been for scans and tests but they said, from day one, that there was a possibility that it was cancer.
“What she has got runs in my family. It’s known to be hereditary.”
Now a fund-raising appeal has been launched to support the schoolgirl from Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, who is currently being home-schooled as a result of her illness.
Holly-Louise - who is on steroids - is undergoing the chemotherapy at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Kerry added: “At the moment she is coping pretty well. She gets her night sweats which is common. She has lost weight. She is very tired.
“They’ve started her on a treatment and she is doing quite well. After two months she will go for another scan and we will find out if she needs radiotherapy.
“When I was told it was cancer I didn’t feel great. I felt a little bit guilty because it goes through my family but we are all staying positive. She is a fighter.
“She has her moments where she is upset. The hospital’s oncology department has been fantastic. They’ve been brilliant with what they’ve been giving her.
“The school has been helpful in setting her up so she could do school work from home. Because of Covid it’s bad enough having her around normal germs when she is going through chemo but if she was to catch something like Covid it could be seriously damaging for her.
“We made the decision that she will school from home. The school has been supportive.
“She is at stage four but it can be a curable cancer. They are sure they will be able to get rid of it. It’s just about what treatment will be needed and how long it takes.”
Kerry has set up a fundraising page to raise money for wigs, a laptop, and a holiday for Holly-Louise.
She added: “She still needs some wigs. We are getting one from the Little Princess Trust.
“Holly likes funky colours so wants to have a bit of fun with it and it’s to make her smile. We need to get her a laptop. She wants to be able to do her schoolwork whilst she’s at hospital and things like that.
“Her biggest dreams have been to stay in a log cabin, go to New York and Lapland so we are hoping to put some money towards that and go as a family.
“The support makes us feel amazing. She is a very shy person and she suffers with anxiety at times so to know there are that many people out there that love her and want to help her is fantastic.
“Thank you so much for donating. It’s going to make a massive difference in making her wishes come true.”
Support the fundraising appeal here.
