Amy Childs’ secret family tragedy revealed as she asks fans for help with £25k donation
AMY Childs has made a plea to fans about her secret family tragedy.
The Towie icon, 35, is asking her followers to share or donate to her cousin’s fundraising page after her five-month-old daughter Lila was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumour.
Amy’s cousin has shared how they are now “out of options” following Lila undergoing 9-hour brain surgery and the tumour since returning.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Amy shared a screengrab of the JustGiving page and wrote about her family’s ongoing tragedy.
“Please, if you can, help support my cousin’s beautiful daughter Lila,” Amy touchingly penned.
She continued: “She’s fighting so hard and every donation makes a difference.
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“Even sharing this means a lot. Thank you all so much.”
On the JustGiving page, Amy’s cousin Hannah opened up about the ordeal in depth.
“Our beautiful little Lila is only 5 months old and been through more in her little life than any adult we know. Our brave girl, our little lion cub,” she began.
“Lila was diagnosed at 3 weeks old with ATRT – a rare and aggressive brain tumour.
“She underwent 9 hour brain surgery at just 3 weeks old, and started chemotherapy at just 5 weeks old. And that is really just the surface.
“What one tiny baby has endured in her 5 months of life has taught us some serious life lessons.”
ATRT is also known as atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor.
It is a rare, fast-growing, and highly aggressive cancerous tumour that develops in the brain and spinal cord of children aged 3 and younger.
Brain Tumour Research states: “ATRTs are classified as embryonal tumours, meaning that they develop from stem cells that helped the embryo to form in the womb, but have unfortunately remained active in the brain after birth.
“When these stem cells fail to stop dividing and developing after the child is born, they can form a cancerous tumour.”
On Amy’s cousin’s fundraising page, Lila’s mum Hannah went on to add: “Lila is the strongest baby girl, already defied all the odds, she has done everything that has been asked of her.. but unfortunately after 6 rounds of chemotherapy, an MRI showed the tumour has returned.
“We were told that treatment would not continue and we were out of options.”
Hannah then revealed that she and her partner “lived in hospital for four months” and were separated from their three other children during this time.
She explained how they have now been living in a children’s hospice for two weeks.
“Our lives have been turned upside down and we are devastated,” she added.
She then explained how they have reached out to an oncologist in Toronto, who is leading on research in ATRT, for a second opinion on Lila.
“We have no idea if there are any options for us, what they could be and how much it might cost us.
“The target is therefore completely random – but if by some miracle, they come through with something for us to try and it comes down to finances, we need to be prepared. Time is not on our side,” she went on.
Concluding her moving plea, Hannah went on to add: “Be assured your donations will not go to waste.
“If our efforts don’t pay off, your donations will be given generously to the lovely charities who have supported us during this time.”
At the time of publication, Amy’s cousin had raised £24,350 of her £25,000 goal.