This little girl is battling for her life as a rare and aggressive cancer has infiltrated every bone in her body.
Kendal Middleton Jessop faces months of gruelling treatment to fight neuroblastoma – which affects just 100 children in the UK each year.
The youngster, who is nearly three, then will have an 80 per cent chance of the cancer recurring.
Her mum Laine said: “She has got the worst stage she could possibly have. She has got a 40 per cent chance of survival.”
If she does relapse, there may be no treatment available in the UK – so Laine and her partner Stuart have now launched a fundraising appeal.
“We don’t want to get to the stage where we have not put anything aside because Kendal would not have the time to wait for us to fundraise,” her mum added.
Kendal’s mum Laine said her daugher “made the family complete” when she arrived in March 2010, and was instantly adored by older brothers Mason, now 13, and Lewis, six.
Last summer, she started complaining of pain and becoming quiet, withdrawn and lethargic.
Laine, also mum to 16-month-old son Karson, took her to the GP and hospital and Kendal was eventually given a CT scan last November.
Within 15 minutes her parents were given the terrible news that a mass they could see was cancerous.
“It was a complete bolt out of the blue,” Laine said.
“I’d never heard of neuroblastoma.”
Doctors later confirmed the illness had spread to her whole body.
“Kendal’s tumour is 12 cm by 9 cm – that’s really large for her tiny belly,” said Laine, 31.
She started chemotherapy immediately and her mum said the tot had been “unbelievably strong”.
However, the family are preparing for the likelihood that the illness will recur – and for the treatment costing up to £500,000 that she may eventually need.
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