Family tell of heartbreak after learning toddler's limp was sign of cancer

Parents of a two-year-old have told how they took her to hospital with a limp and sore leg only to learn she had leukaemia.

Callum Shaw and Charley Straughton, who are from Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, ended up taking the toddler to hospital where tests were carried out.

They were given the news that their daughter Marley Shaw had leukaemia and she began treatment on December 23.

Marley's health was looked into when she started complaining her knee hurt and began limping before Christmas.

Her dad Mr Shaw, who is a 23-year-old salt mine worker, said: "She's been taking it all in her stride and she's not changed her personality one bit, still bossing everybody around."

He said Marley "was complaining about her knee so we thought that she had just damaged her knee in some way.

"Then from there they took blood tests and it's then that we found out she has leukaemia."

He said: "My partner Charley was with Marley at the Royal Derby Hospital because you're only allowed one person in with her at a time, and I was watching my rugby team play when I got a phone call saying the doctor wanted to see both of us together."That drive to the hospital felt the longest drive I have ever had to make in my life; it was horrible," he adds.

Marley is spending a lot of her time 35 miles from home at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham while she undergoes treatment.Friends and family have started a fundraiser so that her parents can rent an Airbnb property in the city close to their daughter.

A fundraiser for the family of a two-year-old girl who has been diagnosed with cancer has raised over £16,000.

Uttoxeter Rugby club are among those to have donated to the cause, which the couple said had surpassed all expectations.

The GoFundMe, which had a goal of raising £5,000, has since generated over three times that much since it was started a month ago. Some of the extra money will be used to buy iPads for other sick children on Marley's ward.

Mr Shaw said: "It's just ridiculous, you want to say thank you but I always say that thank you is never going to be enough.

"We've had to rent an Airbnb in Nottingham while Marley is being treated here and all we wanted to raise at the beginning was the £800 for the house.

"The ward where we are now want to try and do a fundraiser for themselves so they can buy each bed an iPad for the kids, so we're going to use some of the money raised to buy some for the ward also."