Poppy was diagnosed with cancer in her jaw in March 2011. At this time, her mother Karen, was in the final stages of a very rare cancer of the stomach lining. Poppy had faced up to this very bravely and then was diagnosed with her own illness. In June 2011, Karen died whilst Poppy was in hospital receiving chemotherapy.

Poppy underwent chemotherapy from April - November and then in December gained strength for a gruelling 20 hour operation in early January 2012. Her jawbone was removed and her fibula bone was removed from her left leg and used to reform her jaw. She had skin grafts taken from her arms and legs to help the reconstruction. 

Poppy's strong spirit, bravery and optimism helped her make a remarkable recovery and enabled her to leave hospital 4 weeks later. Whilst in remission Poppy learned to walk again, built up fitness and started back to school. Despite making such an amazing recovery, a scan in May showed an alarming shadow and by the begining of June we learned that the cancer had returned and spread.

Poppy continued to amuse and amaze all of those she came into contact with. She even managed to start Secondary School before undergoing some radiotherapy to try to keep the advancing disease at bay. In Autumn her strength began to wain and her weight dropped dramatically. The last 2 months of Poppy's life were very challenging and yet she was still such a joy to be with. She really was the most beautiful, creative and talented little girl. You can learn more about her wonderful though all too short life on her website: WeLovePoppy.org

Our aim is for people who were touched and inspired by Poppy's love, courage and strength to help raise money for people who helped make our challenges and heartbreak just that little more bearable. We need your help to help them help other families who in the future will be placed into similar heartbreaking circumstances.

We aim to help 3 groups:

CLIC Sargent, a charity for young people with cancer. They helped us throughout via their wonderful Social Worker, Sam. She helped us feel less isolated and helped remove certain challenges to enable us to concentrate on caring for Poppy.

Hope and Dreams, a charity who generously funded a final holiday with all of our family. We loved our time together and made some wonderful memories. There is a gallery of photos on WeLovePoppy.org called 'Oceanea' which are the product of this magical holiday.

UCH T11 (University College Hospital Childrens Cancer Ward) playroom art worker. Poppy was hugely creative and loved art. She was constantly drawing or making things. She loved the playroom, mostly for the wonderful opportunities to do art. During her time there, she particularly loved working with the Art Worker Frances. Frances is really imaginative. I often used to talk to Frances about animation and I'd really like to find a way of helping Frances develop her Mac skills to help her develop new digital paths for the many children who are enabled, charmed and distracted by working with her.

At present we are getting to grips with the confined nature of 'Just Giving'. Currently our site is just giving to CLIC Sargent but we will investigate ways we can donate to the UCH play/art room and add the wonderful people at Hopes and Dreams. We are discussing having certain months/events when we might raise money for one specific cause. For instance the Month of June for sponsored walks/swims.

We hope that whilst at the begining of our fundraising journey in Poppy's name, we hope that we have given a strong idea of how we want your donations to help other families in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.