This little girl celebrated her first holiday season cancer free after ringing the bell.
Phoebe Ashfield enjoyed her first Christmas after beating cancer with a trip to Disney on Ice and of course, meeting Santa Claus himself.
Phoebe was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at just seven months old and relapsed three times during her three years of treatment.
Despite the fact that her mum was told to prepare for the worst after Phoebe’s condition worsened, the family were over the moon to enjoy their first festive period since she beat the disease.
Mum Emma Wyke, from Dudley, UK, captured the beautiful moment when she rang the treatment free bell, surrounded by the nurses as they gave Phoebe a well-earned round of applause and cheers.
At one point during Phoebe’s treatment, Emma was warned that she may not pull through, so it was a huge relief that she was able to ring the bell and celebrate the festive period – cancer-free.
Emma said: “She said to Santa she doesn’t want anything and for Santa to surprise her.
“Every time I’ve booked Disney on Ice, Phoebe has either relapsed or she was too poorly to go as her neutrophils – her immune system – was too low and she was at a high risk of getting infections.
“Now, we have been able to do a lot more things with her such as holidays, farms and Disney on Ice.
“At one stage of her treatment, I was told that she wasn’t going to pull through and to prepare myself for the worst.
“It’s devastating and heartbreaking to watch my baby girl go through all this.”
Emma admitted that when Phoebe was first diagnosed, she thought they had the wrong child, and it simply could not be her daughter, as she believed all she had was a cold and chest infection – not cancer.
She added: “When she finally rang the bell, it was a mixture of emotions because you want to cry happy tears but you still have that worry of wondering if it’s going to come back.
“Phoebe started with chemotherapy but unfortunately it wasn’t strong enough to keep the cancer away.”
“This involved taking her own stem cells and modifying them to fight the cancer, but she then relapsed again in the September of that year.
“It was successful until January 2020 when she relapsed for the third time and needed a stem cell transplant, and time was against us.
“If there is one thing to come of this, it’s to register to become a stem cell donor through DKMS and Anthony Nolan because without these selfless people, adults and children, my daughter wouldn’t be here to tell this tale.”