Video: Hannah, right, talks about her experience with cancer with sister Natalie
When 12-year-old Hannah Escreet and her family discovered she had a rare, aggressive form of cancer – her sister Natalie’s first thoughts were of helping to find a cure.
She put on her running shoes and set out to raise funds towards research, in the hope one day thousands of other children could be saved the same fate.
Two years on, and Hannah, Natalie and the rest of the family have good news.
She is in remission from Non-Hodgkin’s Burkitts Lymphoma.
The cancer is extremely rare in female children – less than 50 girls around her age are diagnosed in the UK each year.
She couldn’t walk on her own, she was very feeble
Notts TV News met Hannah and Natalie as they took a tour of the John Van Geest centre in Clifton, which aims to find a cure for cancer.
Last year Natalie raised more than £1,000 by doing runNTU, a 1.5km or 5km run which raises funds to help scientists pay for research at the centre.
But the 20-year-old Nottingham Trent student had to hobble around the course after breaking her toe just moments before the race.
She said: “An hour before I was about to run, I went to answer the door and I managed to catch my little toe on the side – it was sticking out at an angle.
“My mum just got some Sellotape and taped it up to keep it together. Much to my surprise I didn’t finish last, but I still managed to run it!”
Doctors originally thought Hannah’s lump, found on her neck in October 2014, was a cyst; but when specialists went to carry out the operation, they found that it was cancer.
After going through five different doses of chemotherapy, Hannah lost her hair and had to adjust to using a wheelchair.
Natalie said: “It was quite upsetting when she got the wheelchair – I had to help her up the stairs, she couldn’t walk on her own and she was very feeble.”
Video: Hannah talks about her chemotherapy
The schoolgirl missed two terms of classes and wasn’t able to go outside because of her weakened immune system.
Natalie and Hannah will this year join their mum on the run around Clifton campus and hope to beat their fundraising target.
Hannah said: “Both my family and my friends have been really supportive. I’ve got a group of friends who have stood by me through everything – even though it has affected them mentally.”
The John Van Geest centre, which is based at Nottingham Trent University’s Clifton campus has its overheads paid for by the university, so is able to use all donations towards researching the cure for cancer.
runNTU will take place on the April 17, information is available here.
Information on other events on February 26 for the John Van Geest Centre 1in2 day can be found in our guide.
