‘My daughter spent her first Christmas having chemotherapy – now I raise money to buy gifts for children in hospital’

A mother whose daughter spent her first Christmas undergoing intense chemotherapy treatment following a rare cancer diagnosis now raises thousands in order to donate gifts to other children in hospital.

Angelica Campbell, 30, from Guildford, Surrey, said her now four-year-old daughter, Eliza, had a “horrendous” start to her life after she was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer named BCOR sarcoma at just 10 weeks of age in December 2020, where it was found a large tumour was growing close to her spine and compressing her lung.

After undergoing 14 rounds of intense chemotherapy treatment nicknamed the “Red Devil” as well as a major surgery to remove the tumour, Eliza was given the all-clear in August 2021 when she was 11 months old.

However, because of the location of the tumour, she suffered with a spinal cord injury which has left her disabled and in a wheelchair.

While physiotherapy and hydrotherapy is helping Eliza to get “stronger all the time”, Angelica said it is not likely she will make a full recovery from her battle with cancer, although this has not stopped her from being “feisty” and “determined”, and from being “best friends” with her brother, three-year-old Otis.

Eliza was treated by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) and spent her first Christmas in their care, prompting Angelica to fundraise through GoFundMe for the first time in 2022 to purchase gifts for other children with cancer spending the festive season at the hospital.

This year, she has undertaken the initiative again, raising nearly £5,000 so far.

“Eliza is like a little celebrity where we live because everybody is amazed with what she’s done and what she’s overcome,” Angelica, who stopped working as a mental health support worker to care for her daughter, told PA Real Life.

“Her first Christmas was a strange one – we were grateful she was still alive but as it was during Covid-19, it was sad and it meant she was just with me as nobody else could come to visit… it was quite lonely and daunting.”

Angelica said she thought something was wrong with her daughter from the “minute” she was born in September 2020.

“She was a good baby but she was always asleep, she never really woke up to feed,” she said.

“Even from the minute she was born, I thought there was something wrong with her.”

She took Eliza to a doctor a few times but no issues could be found – until Angelica noticed a lump had started to grow just above her daughter’s right shoulder blade.

“It was thought it could be a muscle tear from birth, or a cyst,” Angelica said.

Eliza was referred for further tests but as the country was still battling through the Covid-19 pandemic, Angelica was told the appointment could take a while.

Weeks went by and the lump on Eliza’s shoulder continued to grow, so Angelica made the decision on December 1 2020 to take her daughter to A&E at their local hospital in Guildford, the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

“They did an X-ray and they could see she had a really big tumour that was growing really close to her spine and compressing her lung,” Angelica said.

“We got blue-lighted to Great Ormond Street Hospital and we didn’t leave there until about February for the first time.”

Eliza was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer named BCOR sarcoma on December 3 2020 and she was just 11 weeks old when she began having chemotherapy treatment at GOSH.

“She was a newborn, just a tiny little baby,” Angelica said.

“It was horrendous, it was shocking, you’re kind of numb and you don’t really believe it’s happening to you.”

Doctors were able to shrink the size of the tumour during the 14 rounds of chemotherapy Eliza received before they were able to operate and remove it in a major surgery on June 15 2021, which left her in intensive care for one night.

“She had some of the strongest chemotherapy you can have, they call it the Red Devil,” Angelica said.

Having spent the first year of her life in hospital, Eliza finished her cancer treatment and was given the all-clear when she was 11 months old in August 2021 – although she still requires check-up scans every six months.

“For her first birthday in September, we went up to Great Ormond Street so she could ring the bell,” Angelica said.

As the tumour grew so close to Eliza’s spine, she has been left disabled and using a wheelchair.

While physiotherapy and hydrotherapy are helping Eliza to get “stronger all the time”, it is not certain whether she will ever make a full recovery.

“Eliza is so determined and she’s such a girly-girl – she loves pink, loves Barbie,” Angelica said.

“She’s feisty and she knows what she wants, even at her little age.”

She added that Eliza and her son, Otis, are “really close” and even though they argue as brothers and sisters do, they are “best friends”.

“He’s a good brother, he comes to all her appointments and he’s really patient,” she said.

As Eliza spent her first Christmas in hospital, Angelica decided to raise money through GoFundMe in 2022 to donate presents to children with cancer spending the festive season at GOSH.

Angelica is doing so again this year, raising nearly £5,000 so far and saying she has bought “loads and loads of presents”.

She has purchased electronics such as iPads, Nintendo Switch games and PlayStation 5 games which will remain on the ward for children to share.

She has also bought plenty of presents which the children will be able to keep and take home, including teddies, Lego, puzzles, craft kits, colouring books, Disney princess dolls, Nerf guns, Play-Doh and sensory toys.

Angelica said she will deliver the gifts to GOSH in two carloads on December 19 before they are wrapped and distributed on Christmas Eve night for the children to wake up to on Christmas morning.

She added any leftover money will be placed on an Amazon gift card and given to the hospital to spend throughout the year as they see fit.

“I’ve seen so many children in Great Ormond Street with cancer, it’s not rare to me but it’s horrendous,” she said.

“It’s why I’ve bought so many presents, there’s so many children up there and I know they will all be used.”

To find out more, visit Angelica’s GoFundMe page here: gofundme.com/f/christmas-presents-for-the-children-fighting-cancer.