Olivia’s story lives on in support for families hit by cancer

WHEN 11-year-old Olivia Arnold died from cancer in 2012, she was at home and holding her parents’ hands. This heart-wrenching story is being related to me by her mother, Lisa Ali, 35, who had to watch as her daughter gently slipped away.

Losing a child is every parent’s constant worry but to experience it and – in Lisa and her partner Daniel Arnold’s case – to see it coming, is almost incomprehensible. But that is what they had to do.

Olivia was an outstanding child who came top of her class at school and was outgoing, starting a karate class when she was nine. “It was after that she began to complain of a pain in her knee.”

To begin with, both her parents 
and doctors thought the sensation might be either related to karate or simply growing pains but when it didn’t go away, a hospital scan revealed a tumour which turned out to be cancerous.

Olivia underwent 11 months of chemotherapy before the tumour was cut out and, for all her parents knew – and hoped – that was it.

“She went through everything without moaning, she was always enthusiastic, she dealt with it in a very adult manner. She missed a whole year of school and when she took her SATs she came top of her class.”

After the initial bout of treatment, the family’s life went pretty much back to normal and they settled back into the routine of things.

It was a routine scan in January 2012 which revealed some suspicious nodules on her lungs and tests revealed the cancer, known as osteosarcoma, had returned.

Lisa said: “She had to have them removed, she went in for an operation 11 days after her 11th birthday. After the operation, doctors told us they were hopeful they had got everything out.”

And so the family dared to hope… but just four weeks later, during another scheduled scan, medics 
found signs of the cancer in other 
parts of her body, including her 
lymph nodes. It was at this point, the family had to make an agonising decision.

“They offered us more chemo,” said Lisa, barely holding back the tears. “They told us it would not cure it but it might give her a few more weeks.

“It was a choice as a family we had to make. Having seen what she went through before and how sick she got, we chose to go with quality, not quantity.”

So, Olivia went back to school – St Nicholas, Oakwood – and was happy and the family rallied around in a bid to make the time they had left with the 11-year-old the best it could be. They went on trips and holidays and went to see the musical Shrek in London on August 6.

“She really enjoyed that night. It was two weeks to the day that she passed away. We decided to keep her at home because she said previously she never wanted to go back to hospital.

“We were here for her last breath. She was holding both our hands. We stayed up with her all night and at 3.20 in the morning she woke up and suddenly said ‘I love you mum’ and then just after 5.51am, she died.”

But the story is far from over, because Lisa, who has just given birth to son, Roman, six weeks, whom she describes as her “rainbow baby” and Daniel set up a trust in Olivia’s name to raise money to help families who find themselves in financial turmoil following a cancer diagnosis.

So far, the Olivia Arnold Trust has raised over £52,000 with a series of bric-a-brac sales and cake stalls and in October they hope to boost that even more with their annual charity ball, which will take place at The Irish Centre on York Road (A64), Leeds, from 7pm.

Tickets cost £35, dress code is black and white. Email: [email protected] or call her on 07775 526 947.