AN EIGHT-year-old girl who was diagnosed with cancer last year is urging people across the town to clear out their wardrobes to help save more lives like hers.

Bella Gillies, from Andover, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in June 2018 after a lump appeared in her hand and would not go away.

She underwent three operations and a skin graft and has since been monitored with regular CT scans in hospital.

And now she and her family are calling on the public to help more children and young people survive cancer by getting involved in Give Up Clothes for Good campaign.

Run by high-street retailer TK Maxx, and in support of Cancer Research UK for Children and Young People, the campaign encourages people to donate any pre-loved quality clothing, accessories and homeware that they no longer need to their nearest TK Maxx store.

Donated items will then be sold in Cancer Research UK shops, with each bag of items donated capable of raising up to £30 to help fund dedicated research into children’s and young people’s cancers.

Bella’s mum Anji said: “It’s thanks to research that Bella is here today. That’s why raising money for Cancer Research UK for Children and Young People is so important.

“We will be having a good clear out at home and finding clothes and items to donate to our local TK Maxx store. I hope everyone in Hampshire will get behind this vitally important campaign and turn something they no longer need into funds for such a fantastic cause.”

Bella, who attends Kimpton, Thruxton and Fyfield CofE Primary School along with seven-year-old sister Summer, was diagnosed with a plexiform fibrohistiocytic tumour last June.

She had been complaining about a lump on the palm of her hand which wouldn’t go away, was painful when knocked and sometimes would bruise.

Andover Advertiser:

Anji said: “I took her to the doctors thinking it must be a cyst and asked if they could do anything to stop the pain in Bella’s hand.

“We were referred to a surgeon in Basingstoke but it was only afterwards, when it went off to histology, that they knew what it was.

“We were preparing to go on holiday when the hospital called and asked us to go back in. Because we were going abroad I eventually convinced them to tell me what they needed over the phone. Being told it was cancer was the last thing I expected – it was a huge shock.”

She added: “We initially decided not to tell Bella it was cancer, but eventually she found out and she cried. We reassured her and told her that as cancer goes, what she had was a pretty awesome one. It might sound odd, but that’s how we see it – it was found early and we are lucky that it is something she can get over.

“As a family we have been determined to look at things as positively as we can.”

Anji says that both Bella and Summer are “desperate” to help other ill children however they can.

Earlier this year the girls had their hair cut off in the name of charity, and they also regularly clear out toys that can be donated to the children’s ward at the hospital.

Now they will be clearing out their wardrobes to help the cause.

Anji added: “I am incredibly proud of Bella for how brave she has been and proud of Summer for how she has coped and supported her big sister over the past year.

“We will be having a good clear out at home and finding clothes and items to donate to our local TK Maxx store.

“I hope everyone in Hampshire will get behind this vitally important campaign and turn something they no longer need into funds for such a fantastic cause.”