Cancer girl's family thank 'remarkable' Nottingham hospital staff

The family of a two-year-old girl with a rare form of kidney cancer has thanked "remarkable" hospital staff.

Lacie Marshall was diagnosed with a Wilms' tumour on 3 November, which went from her kidneys to her stomach and wrapped itself around her spine.

After being taken to her GP with a bloated stomach, she was rushed to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, where she spent 17 days.

Her granddad, Stephen Pollard, said he "marvelled" at the care she was given.

Lacie, from Wilbarston, in Northamptonshire, underwent chemotherapy in November to shrink the tumour before having an operation to remove it and her kidney on 17 December.

Talking about the night before the operation, her mother Kelly Marshall said: "When I was putting her to bed, it was like this could be the last time."

On Monday Lacie will start 10 days of radiotherapy.

Lacie's grandfather Stephen Pollard is hoping to raise £10,000 for the hospital with a five-day 100-mile sponsored walk in March.

Mr Pollard said: "While at the bedside you cannot help but marvel at the staff of this wonderful hospital.

"It just seemed special to me."

He added what Lacie has had to endure "has reduced everyone around her to tears, yet she continues to bounce back in such an incredible way".

Consultant Dr Jennifer Turnbull, an oncologist who has been treating Lacie, said Wilms' was "the commonest cancer of the kidney that we see in children but that is still a relatively rare thing".

"Around one in 500 children will get cancer and of those about 6 to 7% will have a Wilms' tumour," she said.

She said those with the disease have a lot of treatment to face but "for most children it will lead to long-term survival".

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