THE STAR OF THE SHOW

Caitlin Bell, 32, was determined to give her little girl something to look forward to

- 

Sitting with my fiancé Jamie, 32, in the doctor's office at a hospital in Bath, I felt sick with terror. 'I don't understand. Sorry... what does that mean?’ I asked. It was September 2022 and we’d taken our daughter Delilah, then seven, to A&E. She’d been sick and dizzy after a knock on the head while playing with her big brother Murphy, then 10. I’d thought she might be a bit concussed, but never imagined something more sinister.

Yet an MRI scan had found a huge tumour in her brain - a high-grade medulloblastoma. I couldn’t comprehend what the consultant was telling me and when I looked over at Jamie, I could see he was fighting back tears, as distraught as me. The consultant began talking through treatment plans but everything became a blur, my whole body felt numb with shock.

‘If you’d come in just a week later, we might not have caught it in time,’ the consultant told us as I shuddered.

On the ward, I pulled Delilah on to my knee, breathing in the fruity scent of shampoo from her hair. ‘Sweetheart, the doctors have found something growing in your brain,’ I explained. Delilah looked at me, eyes wide with worry. I gently told her that she’d have an operation, then some medicine to help her get better. But it took all my strength to keep my voice steady.

FIGHTING BACK