LAST Christmas was a trying time for Sally and Dave Randall.

They spent the festive season ferrying youngest daughter Abby back and forth to hospital as she underwent treatment for a rare form of cancer.

As it seemed their world was falling apart, all they dreamed of was a normal family Christmas at home.

Twelve months on and the whole family are looking forward to just that.

Abby, now 10, was well enough to spend last Christmas day at home, but her parents were worried her health would not hold up and she would have to be admitted to hospital.

“Last year, Abby was in the middle of her chemotherapy,” explains Sally. “She had a fourday chemo session just before Christmas and spent the day of Christmas Eve in hospital having blood tests.

“Luckily she was well enough to have Christmas at home. We spent the day with our family, but it was very quiet and we were on eggshells, just hoping that she would be well and strong enough to last the day.”

Abby was just eight when she came home from school complaining that she had hurt her shoulder. Sally thought nothing of it until she was helping her change for her dance class and found a lump the size of a plum.

A series of GP and hospital appointments followed, along with Xrays, scans and blood tests before Abby was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma – a rare type of bone cancer that affects fewer than 30 children a year in the UK.

“I felt like I’d been hit with a bat when we got the diagnosis,” recalls Sally, from Bitterne, Southampton. “It was such a shock.

“Up until the doctor called us back for the results of her tests and called the lump a mass, nobody had mentioned cancer – I just thought Abby had some sort of strange infection.

“She was really upset as her friend’s dad had recently had cancer and not survived, she thought that meant she would die too.”

Ewing’s Sarcoma has a survival rate of between 60 and 70 per cent and Abby, who attends Ludlow Junior School, had to have immediate surgery on her left shoulder to remove the tumour and ensure it did not spread as it was very close to her lymph glands.

Bones from her foot were transplanted to her shoulder to ensure she did not lose the use of her arm.She then underwent 14 courses of chemotherapy on the Piam Brown Ward at Southampton General Hospital, staying four days each time.

Daily Echo:

Abby Randall

“Abby loved to dance,” says the 47-year-old hairdresser. “And the Roynon Dance School in Woolston were always raising money for the Piam Brown Ward, but I didn’t realise just how incredible they were until we needed them.

“The staff on the ward are amazing people that manage to pick you up when you have been floored by the news your child has cancer. I don’t know what we would have done without them at times.”

Over the next year, while Abby fought the cancer, she endured 120 overnight stays in hospital and six neutropenia stays of a week each time – where her immune system was so low due to the chemo killing off her white blood cells, the body’s main defence against infection – and countless scans and intravenous cannulas.

“Abby was so strong, despite everything she was going through,” explains Sally, who also has an elder daughter, Charlie, 15. “She took losing her hair in her stride and she is an amazing, caring and mature little girl that never lets anything get her down for long.

“Although it was very hard to see how lifeless she became, when she had been so full of energy and bubbly before.”

Abby, and her family, were given the news that she was in remission in May, almost exactly a year after her diagnosis.

She now has checks every three months to make sure the cancer has not returned.

“It was the best news ever when we were told she was in remission. Seeing all the children that were so poorly on the ward made us realise that some people are not so lucky.

“Abby is back at school, and back dancing, and if it wasn’t for her hair still growing back you would never know she has had anything wrong with her!

“Now we are just looking forward to Christmas at home, spending time with the people we love, after the year we have had, it will be extra special.”

Daily Echo:

Abby and her mum, Sally

Sally has recently raised more than £5,800 from a raffle for Lucy’s Days Out – a Salisbury charity that was set up in memory of 12-year-old Lucy Page who lost her own battle with cancer in 2010.

When Lucy knew her cancer was untreatable, she asked her family to set up a charity in her memory. Lucy decided she would like families living with serious illnesses to enjoy special outings like the ones she had enjoyed so much herself.

“I wanted to do something to help Lucy’s Days Out as they helped Abby to feel that she was not missing out on fun when she was having treatment,” says Sally. “They provide iPads for all the beds on the Piam Brown Ward and many days out for the children undergoing treatment there.

“We are really pleased with the generosity friends, family and my hairdressing clients at The End in Bedford Place showed, both with buying tickets and providing prizes. Without them this would never have happened.”

If you would like to find out more about Lucy’s Days Out, please visit lucysdaysout.org.