HOLLY Robinson’s life was changed forever when her 18-month-old daughter was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

Now aged five, the little girl has been in remission for almost two years, goes to school and is living a relatively normal life.

“She has her problems, but she is coping with them and she is doing so well,” said Holly.

“She takes pleasure in things other children might not because of what she has been through.

“It has changed her perspective and mine.

But when doctors revealed Breya had Stage 4 high risk neuroblastoma, the prognosis was not good.

“They said there was a five per cent survival rate, which was devastating.

“To start with I was thinking about how I was going to live, knowing she was going to die but I soon realised no-one can survive like that so I forced myself to focus on helping her be in that five per cent.”

She began looking at alternative ways, alongside the traditional methods, of aiding Breya’s recovery including cutting out sugar in her diet and started to look at alternative treatments.

Having found a trial in America, Holly and Breya’s dad Ollie Ward, who live in Colchester, began fundraising to take her there to receive the non-invasive treatment.

“We raised £250,000 and then a charity called Solving Kids’ Cancer helped us set up everything we needed in New York and helped us book flights.

“We took something like 11 flights across the six month period she was treated, going back and forth.”

Amid all this Holly’s father died just before they flew out for the first treatment.

The treatment, alongside chemotherapy in the UK, involved an injection each time she was in New York.

It was demanding and life changing but it wasn’t all hard work.

“I think Breya will also remember it as an amazing experience while we were out there.

“When she was well we went to Broadway and we went ice skating and out and about together a lot.”

Holly had originally completed a psychology degree and planned to become a therapist and says the experience of Breya’s illness made her re-evaluate her life.

“After I had Breya I didn’t go into that side of things but I got a job and I was working and doing all I could to make as much money as possible, for the future.

“But I realised I wasn’t living in the moment and making the most of the time I had now and that was when I started to change my way of looking at things.

“I didn’t want to waste eight hours a day on something I wasn’t passionate about,” said Holly, 32.

She is cautiously optimistic about the future, aware there is a 60 per cent chance of remission in the first two years.

“The doctors in the UK were not enthusiastic about the trial in New York.

“They said it could just delay the cancer and it would come back worse. They didn’t know.

“But if it had only brought me another year with Breya I would have absolutely done it.

“We just have to take every day as it comes and enjoy it.

“When Breya was having chemotherapy she had to be isolated and was inside a small room for three months and when she went outside just to the car park for a short while she saw some flower beds and cried with joy at seeing them and that is how she sees life now.”

Holly has since left her previous job and re-trained,working as a life coach and helping other families going through a similar experience.

At Christmas she and Breya made and sold baubles to raise £400 for parents in Addenbrookes Hospital’s oncology department.

“We bought vouchers for Costa and M&S for the parents to use in the outlets in the hospital.

“I just remembered the little things mean such a lot.”

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