Mum’s joy as two-year-old daughter has cancerous tumour removed the day before her birthday
Brave Phoebe was just two-years-old when doctors found a Wilm's tumour in her kidney
A LITTLE girl received the "best birthday present ever" when she had a cancerous tumour removed one day before her second birthday.
Brave Phoebe Folarin was just one-year-old when doctors found a Wilm's tumour in her kidney.
Mum Laura Seabright, who is endorsing The Sun's Smiles at Christmas campaign, noticed something was wrong when Phoebe went up a nappy size and would wake up tired from naps.
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Mum Laura told of her family's own child cancer nightmare when little Phoebe fell ill.
She said: "She was vomiting once a day, her stomach looked strange and protruded. I googled her symptoms and it said Wilm's tumour and a few other things.
"I thought 'Yeah, like my kid will have cancer, the likelihood is tiny'."
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Laura took Phoebe to her GP, who spotted a potential tumour "pretty quickly" and their lives were turned upside down when the family received the devastating diagnosis.
She told The Sun Online: "Some people go back and forth from the GP's lots of times, but ours spotted the tumour pretty quickly.
"Children with Cancer are raising the profile and raising awareness, so GPs know what their looking for."
Looking back at Phoebe's diagnosis, Laura, 39, recalls thinking "I hope this isn't one of those moments where your life changes".
Phoebe's parents were told the one-year-old needed chemotherapy before doctors were able to remove the tumour.
Her mum said: "[That was] what we wanted. We thought, 'We've got to get to that tumour, we've got to get it out, we've got to get that stupid lump out of her'."
Devastated Laura - who was supported by Children with Cancer throughout Phoebe's illness, was unable to take Phoebe into hospital when she was first admitted as she was giving birth to her little sister Zoe.
Phoebe, now six, said: "I didn't actually see mummy, I saw my dad not mum because mummy was having Zoe. I had a lot of cuddles with my dad."
The young girl was comforted by dad Amos, 38, after being admitted to hospital but was overjoyed when her mum brought her little sister to meet her for the first time.
She said: "When Zoe was being born I was really excited to see her. She was really cute and I gave her the most cuddles."
Phoebe was admitted for surgery to have the tumour removed on August 8 - less than a month after her diagnosis and one day before her second birthday.
She received "the best birthday present ever" when doctors successfully removed the tumour with the help of life-saving research by .
Laura said: "It was the best news ever. It was so good.
"The doctors said Phoebe was allowed a glass of milk to celebrate on her birthday the day after."
Harry Potter-mad Phoebe is now in Year 2 and loving her life as a healthy little girl.
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Looking back at her illness, she says: "I didn't really know what was happening. I had no idea I had cancer, I didn't even know what cancer was."
Laura thinks the illness made Phoebe a "more empathetic person".
She says: "If someone is hurt she's very good at dealing with other people.
"I call it her special power because she's so good at knowing when people are upset and what to do."
Laura has backed The Sun's Smiles at Christmas campaign, which is calling for readers to donate money and toys to Children with Cancer, as well as three other charities.
Phoebe was taken to the circus by Children for Cancer and her family were offered constant support from the charity when their daughter was unwell.
Laura said: "They're a really wonderful charity and they really focus on trying to improve the life chances of children with cancer, by raising the profile with politicians and directly funding research.
"They are also fantastic at really helping families who are quite traumatised. You get to see families with much nicer stories, where the children are growing older."
Phoebe went for a couple of scans last week and is looking forward to Christmas after being given the all-clear.
Mum Laura said: "Research is the most important way of stopping more children dying of cancer.
"We really need the money for that research. It's just so important, that's what saved our little girl."
She added: "Putting money directly into research saves lives. All the money that goes towards doing that will have the affect of stopping more children dying and give more happy endings for more families."
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