Leeds band VENUS GRRRLS singer Grace Kelly appeared in Teenage Cancer Trust video at Royal Albert Hall

Grace Kelly, now 26, was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and shared her story as part of a Teenage Cancer Trust fundraising gig headlined by Frank Carter and Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols on March 24.

The short film featuring Grace, her partner Jack and her bandmate Hannah, was be shown before the headliners performed.

Grace’s band VENUS GRRRLS also performed at the venue later in the week, supporting James Arthur.

After being unwell for a number of months, Grace was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in July 2022.

Speaking about the moment she was told, Grace said: “I zoned out and felt like I couldn’t hear. It was like I was having an out of body experience, but Jack had his hand on my leg, so that brought me back to the room. My parents were in the waiting room and it killed me to tell them. I felt like I had let them down.”

Grace needed chemotherapy and she had her treatment at the Teenage Cancer Trust-funded unit for people aged 19 to 24 at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, which is staffed by the charity’s nurses and support workers. Grace said: “I was in hospital for nearly six weeks. On the unit, you have your own room and Padma, Teenage Cancer Trust’s Youth Support Coordinator, told me I should decorate it. She printed off photos of my band and my boyfriend and laminated them.

“It made it feel more homely and less like a hospital room. We put them on the wall opposite my bed, so it was the first thing I saw in the morning when I woke up and it gave me a boost and gave me a shred of normality. “Towards the end of my treatment, I was able to mix more with the other young people who were having treatment because I was less prone to getting infections. It’s hard to know who wants to chat on the unit and who doesn’t, but Padma was great at facilitating the initial conversations.

“Because of Padma, I met ‘the cancer girlies’. They offered me emotional support and they can understand what I am going through. We have a group chat and can talk about serious things but we can also just send cancer memes and have a laugh. We’re all healing together.”

Grace, who has just released Eighteen Crows with VENUS GRRRLS, said: “Our second or third single came out in the midst of all of my tests, so it was a very strange time. It was very difficult for the band too. We were a group of young girls who were pursuing our dream in music. Our song Violet State of Mind was played on Radio 1, so it was a bittersweet time.

“As a band, you rely on each other, and you know that you need to show up and commit for it to work. I knew through no fault of my own that I wouldn’t be able to do that for a while. I worried that they were going to move on without me. They told me that they would wait until I got back to continue. I still felt like I was letting them down, but they reassured me as much as they could.

"When I started treatment, it was intensive, and I felt so worn out that I wasn’t thinking about my music. It wasn’t until I was getting towards the end of my treatment that I started writing again. Teenage Cancer Trust staff encouraged that and I wrote the song Lidocaine while in my hospital bed. The song is about my cancer journey, feeling trapped and not being able to do the things I wanted to.

“I performed the song at our first gig when I was in remission, and it was really cathartic and healing. I wished I could have gone back to the version of me after I’d been diagnosed and reassure her that it would be ok because there was a time when I thought “oh god, would I ever be able to do this again?”

Grace finished her treatment in March 2023 and VENUS GRRRLS are gaining popularity. They recently returned from performing at the SXSW festiavl in Texas. Last year, the band played festivals including Leeds and Reading, Isle of Wight, Kendall Calling and Y Not.

April is Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Awareness Month. Leeds cancer charity Candlelighters, along with 19 other charities which care for young people with cancer, are helping to raise awareness, share stories and push for better support for teenagers and young people.