LITTLE Olivia Gallienne lost her battle with cancer in 2007. But her parents keep her memory alive by talking about her, and raising funds to help fight the disease.

Olivia died during August and since then her parents, Katie and Andrew, from Alresford, have worked tirelessly to raise money for research to help other youngsters.

“Fundraising to fight cancer has definitely helped us,” says Katie.

“We like to help others going through what we went through.”

Olivia was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukaemia when she was just five weeks old.

She spent 616 days of her short life in hospital and much of that time battling to stay alive.

“We were told when she was first diagnosed that she wouldn’t live to see her first birthday, but she lived to two years and ten months, thanks to research and treatment,” says Katie.

“The treatment has come on leaps and bounds since then and through fundraising we’ve been able to be part of that.”

According to Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens, the rate of children dying from cancer has dropped by almost a quarter (24 per cent) in the UK in the last decade.

While the figures underline the progress being made in the fight against children’s cancers, five children still lose their lives to the disease every week in the UK.

Before Olivia’s diagnosis, Katie didn’t know anyone who had cancer. Now, she is friends with many parents who she got to know on Olivia’s hospital ward, some of who have also lost their children, and some who have had a happy ending.

And earlier this year, Olivia’s grandfather, John Gallienne, lost a brave battle with oesophageal cancer.

John, who was 72 and lived in Alresford, was granted his dying wish to be buried close to Olivia in the town’s churchyard.

When Katie’s life-long friend Nikki Martin, 37, from Romsey, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer around a year ago, Katie dyed her hair pink to show her support and fundraise.

Katie also helps to run an online support group for parents of children with cancer and a bereavement support group which have around 1,800 members between them around the world.

Over the years her family – including her parents, big sister, Jazmine, her grandmothers and brother Morgan – have raised in the region of £11,000 in a variety of ways, including Katie taking part in the Great South Run last year.

Katie also shaved off her beloved hair a few months ago, raising almost £2,000.

The money has helped Cancer Research UK fund life-saving research and other good causes associated with children’s cancers – including the Piam Brown Ward at Southampton General Hospital where Olivia was treated.

Katie says that Olivia is still very much part of her day-to-day life.

“I don’t have any difficulty in talking about her,” she says. “She’s talked about every day, one way or another.

“We might say ‘Olivia would have liked that’ or share a memory.

“My son never met her, but he knows all about her and he talks about his sister Olivia.

“We keep her alive.

“I know a lot of people who have lost someone have family who say ‘you need to move on’ but luckily people know me too well to say anything like that to me.

“We have moved on, but she’s coming with us.

“She was our middle child, and she always will be.”

Southampton is one of 21 centres across the UK and Ireland taking part in groundbreaking research co-ordinated by Cancer Research UK’s Children’s Cancer Trials Team. The trials make innovative new treatments available to children with cancer.

“No words can describe how much we all still miss our darling Olivia but without Cancer Research UK’s ground-breaking research, we would not have had almost three precious years with her, ” says Katie.

She says that fundraising to fight cancer will always be part of her life.

Helen Johnstone, Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens spokesperson for Hampshire, says: “Despite losing treasured members of their family to cancer, the Gallienne family believe research allowed them to spend more time together.

“That’s why Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens, in partnership with TK Maxx, is raising funds to accelerate research to find kinder treatments and cures for children, teens and young adults with cancer.”

TK Maxx is the biggest corporate funder of research into children’s cancers in the UK.

The retailer’s support of Cancer Research UK’s Kids & Teens Star Awards is part of a wider partnership with the charity, which has raised over £22 million since 2004.

More than £18 million of that has specifically supported research into children’s cancers.

The charity wants the public to nominate a child for a Kids & Teens Star Award or help to boost funds for research to beat children’s cancers sooner.

Each and every child nominated receives the accolade, which is backed by a host of celebrities including England captain Wayne Rooney and singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé.

They also received a £50 TK Maxx gift card and a certificate signed by celebrities including Strictly Come Dancing stars Kevin and Karen Clifton, children’s TV presenters Justin Fletcher and Mister Maker and kids’ TV pop group Go!Go!Go!

There is no judging panel because the charity and TK Maxx believe that every child who faces cancer is extra special.

l To nominate a child, donate or fundraise in support of Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens visit cruk.org/kidsandteens.