Today we’d like to share the story of Jill Weaver and her daughter Jess. Recently Jill published her first book of poetry, inspired by Jess. Below, Jill explains a little about their story.
“Jess was an eight year old little girl who loved her family, friends and being mischievous! She was spirited, kind and loved making noise, particularly on her euphonium! She was generally happy, healthy and enjoyed being a ‘mini mum’ as she would say (the sunglasses picture below perhaps explains where that name came from!), but only eight years and two months into her life, everything changed.”
“On 18th September 2019, we received the most devastating news; Jess had leukaemia. We couldn’t believe it – only hours earlier, Jess had been playing at school.”
“Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (cancer of the blood) progresses quickly and aggressively, so we were instantaneously catapulted into a world of chemotherapy, operations, transfusions, hospital stays, intensive care and lots of medical procedures that (up until that point) we had very little knowledge of. As adults, we were frightened, knowing all too well the fragility of human life. But Jess was a fighter; her bravery and courage were part of who she was, so we were hopeful that would help to get her through.”
“We were surrounded by knowledgeable professionals, promising statistics and lots of help and support. All of which reassured us we were in good hands and helped us to tackle the battle head-on. Charities such as Candlelighters helped us along the way; they offer support (for both patients and families), practical advice, and relief in terms of normality and fun (wherever possible) in between the medical procedures. We will forever be thankful to them and have raised over £10k for them since October 2019.”
Since losing Jess, Jill has raised funds for Candlelighters in her memory in various ways and now will donate some of the proceeds from her book – ‘In Our Shoes’ to further help other children and families facing childhood cancer. We are so grateful to Jill for this kind gesture which will help us to continue supporting families across Yorkshire when they most need it.
