Friends complete fundraising Three Peaks Challenge, as Lily finishes chemotherapy

Little Lily Harley was diagnosed in January with Grade 3 Ependymoma – a type of brain tumour – in January this year and had her first 10-hour surgery to remove 80 percent of her tumour shortly after.

Lily has also had to undergo proton beam therapy in Germany, where they stayed for two months while she underwent the treatment under general anaesthetic five days a week.

Due to her operations, Lily also lost the ability to swallow, speak, sit up, crawl, stand, or walk, and she has had to be fed via a tube in her nose.

Luckily, after months of intense physiotherapy and speech and language therapy, she has finally regained her ability to do all of these things, and Emily said she has been incredibly brave.

Since then, Lily has been undergoing chemotherapy at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, and has now finished her last round of chemotherapy, and her doctors are happy with her progress.

Lily is now back at nursery and her parents, Emily Morton and Josh Harley, said that she has taken all the treatment has thrown at her in her stride and while she gets tired easily, is adapting well.

On top of raising awareness of Lily’s condition, Emily and her friend Ruby Frankish successfully climbed Mount Snowdon on Saturday August 20, with Ruby also climbing Scalfell Pike and Ben Nevis as part of the Three Peaks Challenge, to raise money for Lily and Young Lives VS Cancer.

Emily said: “We really want to challenge ourselves, compared to what Lily has been through it’s not the same, but we wanted to do something, she’s been through so much.”

It took the friends four and a half hours to climb Snowdon, and Emily said it was a gruelling challenge as the weather was so wet and windy at the top of the mountain.

“Ruby managed to climb all three and she did really well,” Emily said.

Lily will now have a scan in October to see if the chemotherapy has shrunk her tumour, and while the doctors are optimistic about her prognosis, there is a chance the cancer will return due to the nature of the tumour.

You can still make a contribution to Young Lives Vs Cancer via Emily and Ruby’s fundraising page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/emily-morton-2?utm_term=J64gjdGVw