A young girl who injured her leg while playing in the garden went on to be diagnosed with bone cancer. Poppy Vanner was climbing up the ladder to bounce on the trampoline at her family home when she slipped and banged her leg on one of the rungs.
Doctors advised her parents to apply ice on the area, just below the knee. However after a couple of weeks the swelling hadn't gone down and Poppy's pain grew worse. Poppy's dad, Colin and mum Charleigh, took her back to the GP and she was eventually diagnosed with osteosarcoma on October 9.
Five weeks on, the Crewe schoolgirl is about to undergo treatment at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. Tests showed Poppy has a tumour in her leg and she will start her chemotherapy treatment, which will take around eight months, on Monday (November 20), reports CheshireLive.
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But despite all this, including being in a lot of pain and having to use a wheelchair for the time being, Poppy has showed her determination to show cancer who is boss and to share her story to help others who may be going through it too. And the plucky schoolgirl has even given the tumour a name - Larry the Lump and Loser.
Poppy has been giving updates on her journey via TikTok and has also taken part in an eight mile walk to raise awareness and funds. And the huge Taylor Swift fan has spoken about how it helped her to be able to choose some of her favourite songs including Enchanted and Cruel Summer to give her a boost while she has been undergoing MRI scans.
Colin, 39, said: "Poppy is a very very brave young girl. The tumour has caused her to become wheelchair bound and she has been in severe pain for many weeks and months. She just wants to be better and to just be able to walk. She wants to be able to sing and dance in her bedroom [with her siblings] and to walk to the shop and she'll be able to soon."
Colin said that when she was told she would lose her hair she even decided to donate it to the Little Princess Trust to help others in the same situation. Explaining the message Poppy and her family want to get across to others, Colin added: "Poppy wants to share her story to help other people going through this, so they know they are not alone.
"We want to say to people that, if you hurt yourself and you are worried and maybe think it's unusual at all then always get it checked out as sometimes it can be more serious. Then you can get the treatment you need."
Poppy's mum Charleigh, 38, revealed that the canny schoolgirl, who has two sisters, Milly, 14, and Matilda, four, and a brother, Jackson, eight, has even struck a deal with her mum and dad to get £1 every time she takes her medicine. She is saving up ready to go on a shopping spree when she is feeling better.
Commenting on Poppy's tenacity and determination in the face of all she is going through, Charleigh added: "We have to give her £1 every time she has her medication. She is a savvy young lady. In the summer holidays she made and sold bracelets out on the green near our house. She's going to be a millionaire with her entrepreneurial skills!"
Listing her favourite subjects at school as being dance and drama, Poppy said she was also looking forward to being able to do these again when she is feeling better. In the lead up to her treatment, Poppy has even led an eight mile walk organised to raise awareness and funding for Poppy's Journey, despite the severe pain she experiences.
The walkers set off from the King George V Playing Fields in Crewe, walking to Malbank High School in Nantwich. Many of the participants were in fancy dress. Poppy was joined on the walk by around 40 of her family and friends, some of whom found out about her journey via social media and travelled from as far afield as County Durham to lend their support.
Dad Colin dressed as a ghostbuster in a nod to his popular Crewe Ghost Adventures channel on YouTube and related social media accounts. He has now renamed the accounts Poppy's Journey, with Poppy joining him to go live on TikTok to give updates on her journey.
Colin said: "If Poppy is feeling down and low and we offer her sweets, food or a drink the answer is always no but when we ask if she wants to do a live then she says yes. Poppy will go on there with me every few days and give everyone an update on how she is feeling, which I think is fantastic.
"I think it's good for her to do this. She is talking to a wider audience including people who may have gone through this before and who may share their stories, which is reassuring."
Commenting on the walk, Colin added: "It was the longest time Poppy has ever spent in a wheelchair. It must have been around five or six hours. She was determined to finish it but about 10 minutes away from the finish she hit the wall. She did brilliantly. I couldn't have wished for a better turnout. We had a stop off at the Sacred Orchard pub and Poppy enjoyed some chips there."
Poppy, a pupil at Malbank High School in Nantwich, is currently sleeping in the living room of her house. Her mum Charleigh said this could be difficult for her if she is tired and in pain and her brother and sisters come in to play or watch TV.
Expressing just how touched the family were by the support being given to Poppy, Colin said: "We also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support. It means the world to us.
"Work have been absolutely brilliant. We've had so much help and support, not just from work but from friends on the street and people we hadn't even met before. Down the road in the local shop they have a picture of Poppy and are raffling a hamper.
"People are doing all of these things to make Poppy feel better. Everyone has been absolutely fantastic."
And sharing just how touched they all were by the great turnout for the walk, mum Charleigh said: "The walk was to raise awareness and funds. It was arranged for us and it was absolutely amazing and so nice to see so many people who we didn't expect to be there.
"I was in the car in case Poppy or anyone else on the walk got tired. We stopped at one point so Poppy could have some morphine. She did most of the walk but it got to a point where she wasn't able to do any more. She was gutted but what she did was absolutely amazing."
Poppy loves making bracelets and has even made some as gifts for her family, with dad Colin saying it meant so much to wear one saying 'Dad' which she'd made him for Father's Day. He said he loves looking at it and thinking of Poppy, especially while he is out at work as a car polisher at the Bentley factory in Crewe.
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"I love my bracelet from Poppy. Every time I look at it it's a little reminder of her. I was over the moon when she gave it to me," Colin added.
Charleigh said she'd also ordered some matching special bracelets for the family to wear to help them all feel close even when apart when Poppy is in hospital. Colin added that the family were receiving support from the Young Lives vs Cancer charity, saying they were brilliant.
