RM Managers Brave toddler - Amy wins cancer fight award

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Brave toddler Amy wins cancer fight award

http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/conte ... 3A27%3A323" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A BRAVE Islington toddler who underwent months of gruelling treatment for cancer has had her courage recognised by a national charity.

Amy Green, three, was diagnosed with leukaemia in December 2007 and spent Christmas at The Whittington Hospital, in Magdala Avenue, Archway. But after a year of intense chemotherapy to combat the disease, battling Amy has been presented with a Little Star Award by Cancer Research UK.

Amy's dad Tony, 38, a Royal Mail manager, of Packington Square, said: "The treatment she has had has been harsh on her little body but she has shown nothing but courage.

"She has been an inspiration to her whole family and I am so proud of how she copes with everything the disease and the treatment throws at her."

At first Tony and his wife Denise were told their daughter had tonsillitis after noticing Amy was pale and lethargic - but the devastated parents feared the worst when doctors later diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

"It was such a shock," said Tony. "When you hear the word leukaemia you straight away think 'death sentence'. But the doctors at Great Ormond Street explained our options and she started treatment straight away.

"She put on weight as she couldn't do much exercise because the drugs also made her joints ache. She had a particularly bad time last May when she underwent intensive chemo treatment which bowled her over. But despite all that she has always been cheerful."

Although Amy's treatment will continue for the next two years the worst of her ordeal is over and she has now started nursery like any other three-year-old. Tony added: "She has a little nurse's kit and if I am under the weather she takes on the carer's role and says 'I will make you feel better daddy'."

Lynn Daly, Cancer Research UK's spokeswoman in London, said: "Amy is a true Little Star who richly deserves this accolade."

The award, run in partnership with the TK Maxx Together For Kinds Fund, has seen Amy presented with a chrome star trophy and a special certificate signed by celebrities including Lewis Hamilton and Leona Lewis.