"We would be super happy and proud if you would be kind enough to give up a couple of minutes of your time to read a little bit about Sophie".

Sophie lives in Stubbington, Hampshire and is just the most beautiful, caring and loving 9-year-old girl.

In September 2020, Sophie's family received the devastatingly heartbreaking news that Sophie had been diagnosed with anaplastic rhabdomyosarcoma, which is uncommon cancer that occurs mainly in adults but is very rare in children.

Sophie's sad journey began 6-months earlier when she had complained of stomach pains, feeling sick and not eating until lunchtime. After many phone consultations with a GP, several diagnoses and remedies were suggested, including Gaviscon, as it was thought it might be IBS, food intolerance etc.

In May 2020, Sophie was very unwell, feeling sick, unbearable tummy pain and unable to get out of bed for a few days. The doctor finally saw her in person and felt it might be a bowel infection as her bowels were hard but felt Sophie was better off without antibiotics. A week later, she started bleeding from her vagina, she had just turned 9, and although it can happen, she wasn't developed in any other way for it to be a period. After several days Sophie's parents took her to A&E at QA hospital Portsmouth.

When the doctor examined Sophie, they felt a large lump in her tummy, and things rapidly changed - "questions", "bloods", "examinations", and "scans"!

Sophie was moved to a ward to await the results. About 9pm a consultant came in and said we're being moved to Southampton General hospital for further tests such as ultrasound as the markers for a tumour were raised; her parents were absolutely terrified and couldn't quite believe what they were hearing about their baby girl - She was happily playing Roblox that morning and running around the house, but now she might have a tumour???!!!

At Southampton General hospital, little Sophie finally had the ultrasound, where they found a huge mass with nothing behind it. The doctors arranged an MRI and chest x-ray for the following day, which must have felt like years to wait for mum and dad.

Sophie had her MRI the next morning, her mum telling us how horrific it was as she watched her baby girl crying in pain as she tried to stay still but was unable to due to the pain. What should've taken half an hour took 90 minutes and resulted in Sophie having sandbags put on her feet and legs and being strapped down. It was awful, but she battled through the pain (a story of Sophie's bravery throughout her journey) until they got the pictures they needed.

Mum and dad took Sophie to the M&S food court, and after a pink doughnut and white chocolate, bar Sophie was happy again.

Later that day, the surgeon came and spoke to me to advise that they discovered a huge tumour in her tummy, which looks like it's attached to the ovary and would need to be removed and booked surgery to understand whether the tumour was benign or cancerous.

Sophie was allowed home for a couple of days to prepare for major surgery.

Sophie asked the surgeon if she could go back to school for the next couple of days, which he agreed to IF Sophie felt well enough ... then go for it.

We can only imagine the pain mum and dad were feeling on the drive home, which must have been unimaginably hard, their hearts breaking for the loving, caring and happy little girl, yet, they needed to be so strong for Sophie.

Sophie's mum remembers the surgeon came to find her, to speak in private about what he had found inside Sophie's little body. Sophie's mum can't remember everything the surgeon said but can still feel the moment her world came crashing in.

The surgeon explained that when he operated, they found a very different tumour to what it had appeared on the MRI. It wasn't stuck to the ovaries at all. What he did find was a tumour that had become stuck to parts of Sophie that couldn't be removed. He managed to remove 95% of the tumour, but the parts left behind in Sophie's body couldn't remove without doing long term and lasting damage. The surgeon explained that it now looked extremely likely Sophie had a VERY RARE soft tissue cancer.

Sophie's mum couldn't breathe from the devasting news about her beautiful baby girl - The surgeon kept saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry", but what did he have to be sorry for, he carried out a very difficult procedure to try and give Sophie every chance to fight this evil disease.

Sophie's mum and dad now needed to wait until the biopsy came back with confirmation and the cancer's grading etc, to determine the treatment plan knowing that this was going to be a tougher cancer to fight than had been originally thought.

Sophie's mum and dad received the news that is every parent's living nightmare, their worst fears were confirmed, and were told that their beautiful, happy, caring baby girl could not has a cancer that cannot be cured.

The family have been building time rather than looking for a cure and were looking at months rather than years. The type of cancer Sophie has is so aggressive and fast-growing. It feels so incredibly cruel and unfair that it has Sophie hasn't had time to enjoy things in her life, and will never get to ring the bell to end treatment.

Sophie's journey absolutely breaks our hearts, so, we are helping Sophie and her family to create memories that will give Sophie the very best life she has left.

Sophie is currently receiving palliative chemotherapy which, makes Sophie's mum and dad so scared. They are distraught at the thought of Sophie not being here. Sophie is so young, so beautiful, and so happy with so much more to give in life, which is devastating for her family and friends who are in so much pain from their breaking heart's.

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Here at Eden, we do our best to support charities across our regions. We are delighted to be supporting Sophie's Fund.

Sophie is an incredibly brave and determined 9 year old fighting a rare form of Cancer 'Rhabdomyosarcoma'. Her story is heart-breaking and we want to help support her mission to raise money for research and to find better treatments and a cure. Read her story here -

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063446397145

So to raise valuable funds, we have a fantastic Family Fun Day Event to invite you all to. This will include a highly competitive football match on Sunday 1st August. Our Eden Vauxhall Fareham dealership will go head to head in a battle with a rival Motor Group (Richmond), and we are confident in our determined, talented Fareham team that we will battle hard to win! We promise to put on a good performance and would like to see as many people as possible at the Fareham Town Football Stadium. Please come on down and support by paying a minimum of just £2 on the door to watch the game and enjoy the Family Event. Kids go free and there will be plenty of entertainment with a bouncy castle, face paints and a food/drinks bar.

Football players will be paying £10 each to play to support the fund.

Doors open from 9.30am

Football Match Kick off @ 11am - Sunday 1st August

Please confirm your intended attendance by clicking the 'Going' button on this event. This will help us gauge the level of expected spectators and if there are any capacity issues we will communicate this via the event on this page.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Cannot attend or want to donate? Please do so by going to this Go Fund Me page

Thank you from us all at Eden Motor Group, and all our love and heartfelt wishes to Sophie...and her very brave "Journey" x