A TERMINALLY ill mum has praised her daughter, on a fundraising mission to find a cure for cancer, as her 'little angel'.
When Karen Dutton, of Depmore Lane in Kingsley, was diagnosed with brain cancer in June last year, she told her two children they had to be strong and positive.
But after being diagnosed with terminal cancer when doctors found a second tumour on her brain, the single mother could never have imagined how brave her 10-year-old daughter could be.
After watching her mum going through bouts of chemotherapy, Rebecca Dutton decided she wanted to find a cure for cancer and raise money for the nurses who help keep her mum alive.
Almost four weeks ago Rebecca, known as Becky to her family and friends, started fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support, vowing to run a kilometre dressed in a Santa suit through the streets of Liverpool next month.
The Kingsley Community Primary School pupil set herself a modest target of £100, but within five days it had been smashed with friends and family donating more than £500 – and with just over a week until the dash, Rebecca has raised £1,371 for the charity.
“I’m just so proud of her, she is like my little carer. She is just an angel. She is my koala bear, she clings on to me and never lets go,” said Karen, who said Frodsham Roundtable were planning to donate £500 to Becky’s charity challenge.
“She just went into Clatterbridge and picked up a fundraising leaflet and she chose Macmillan. When we were setting up the page all we expected people to donate was a pound, so we were only going to put a small target, but Becky said she had to put a minimum of £100.
“It was just amazing, within three days she had smashed the target. I am so proud of her, she is a star.”
Becky, who loves drawing and painting, has raised the money by raffling off a love heart tree at a school bingo evening and encouraging her friends, classmates and local businesses to organise parties and events to back the cause.
Karen said she was amazed her daughter managed to organise the fundraising around her packed schedule, with Becky currently in rehearsals with Kingsley Players for their upcoming Christmas panto, dancing and playing cornet in a local band.
In June last year Karen, 43 at the time, was diagnosed with cancer after doctors found a tumour on her brain. She underwent an operation in July, but after extensive bouts of chemotherapy it returned in September.
Karen was due to have an operation in November, but on the day of the procedure doctors discovered a second tumour on her brain and decided not to operate.
Now Karen is undergoing indefinite chemotherapy for grade four glioblastoma brain tumours, but says her 19-year-old son Matthew, who has moved home from Liverpool where he was studying engineering to care for his mum, and Becky are her little carers and she would be lost without them.
Becky, who will be running the Liverpool 1k Mini Santa Dash on December 2, said: “I have never ran that far before but I have been training hard, running around Kingsley and at my school.
“I am really looking forward to taking part in such a huge event and seeing thousands of Santas will be fun.
“I am most looking forward to finishing the race and all the money going to Macmillan as they have been helping my mum.”
