Wolverhampton headteacher and family raise £1,000 for charity
"It's every parent’s worst nightmare and you'd give anything to take it away."
A headteacher from Wolverhampton has raised more than £1,000 to help "give back" to those who helped her daughter beat cancer.
Jenny Byrne took on and completed the Florette Fradley 10k earlier this month – marking her 40th birthday and the anniversary of Rosie's diagnosis.
The mother-of-four, who took on the run near Lichfield with seven friends, took on the challenge to raise funds for Molly Olly's Wishes.
Rosie, now aged eight, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) after developing a limp the day before her third birthday in February 2015.
Jenny, who is headteacher at the St Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School that Rosie also attends, said it was an "incredibly" stressful time.
She said: "We felt completely helpless and didn’t know what the future would hold.
"We were just in total shock.
"Nobody expects to hear those words but what will always stick with me is when the specialist said we needed to pray that it was leukaemia, which sounded like a peculiar thing to say, but it’s because the success rate and the treatment options offer the best chance of recovery.
"It’s the most common form of blood cancer in children and the most curable of the blood cancers.
"Your whole life just stops and you realise that nothing else is important and you need to all pull together and take this illness on.
"We were not able to do any of it for her and were reliant completely on strangers who you have to put all your trust and faith in."
Mrs Byrne and husband Chris had a new baby of only five months old at the time – with the oldest only 18 months older than Rosie.
Two-and-a-half years of treatment later, the youngster had to overcome a series of complications – putting her on life support, which she fought through.
In 2018, the day of the Birmingham 10k, Rosie was given the all clear – returning to Birmingham Children's Hospital to ring the end of treatment bell.
They raised £1,080 for Wawrickshire-based Molly Olly's Wishes which helped fulfil Rosie's special wish, with extra donations taking the total to £1,120.
Jenny said: “We had been reading to her throughout her time in intensive care and during recovery. We didn’t know if she could hear us but we read Paddington Bear stories which was a book we found in the hospital ward. For her wish she asked to go to London and see everywhere that Paddington Bear had been in those stories.
"Molly Olly’s arranged for us to spend the weekend in London visiting various Paddington-related places such as Portobello Market and the train station and even ate marmalade sandwiches.
"They also added lovely extra details as well and gave her a Paddington Bear suitcase with some bits and pieces in it and was given a special camera to take her own pictures and document the day.
"It made her feel so special but it made a difference to all of us."
Rosie's father is now planning to follow in his wife's footsteps by running 10k in 10 days on his 40th birthday in August.
The family of six is currently having to self-isolate for 12 weeks due to coronavirus because eight-year-old daughter Rosie is in remission for leukaemia.
To donate, visit Molly Olly’s Wishes Justgiving page at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/40thfundraiserformollyolly
