Mum of Sophie Fairall, who died age 10 from cancer last year, meets with minister in London to discuss childhood cancer

Charlotte Fairall from Stubbington lost her daughter Sophie last September, at the age of 10 years old, after being diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.

Since Sophie’s death, Charlotte has been campaigning for improvements in how we detect, treat and care for children with cancer.

This week, Charlotte went to Westminster to meet with the minister for patient safety and primary care, Maria Caulfield, and Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage, following a recent debate on the matter in the House of Commons.

Charlotte said: ‘Thank you to Maria Caulfield for giving up her time to meet with Caroline and myself.

‘I feel it was a positive meeting, sharing ideas and the way forward with childhood cancer.

‘The government has a real opportunity to make significant changes to how children are diagnosed, treated and the improvement to research. I really hope they implement the childhood cancer mission as I truly believe it will save lives.’

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Childhood cancer is often referred to as rare, but is the biggest killer of children under the age of 14.

In this age group, there are around 1,800 new cancer cases every year.

Ms Dinenage added: ‘I’m grateful for the minister’s assurance of her commitment.

‘Charlotte and I have offered to facilitate a round-table meeting with experts in paediatric oncology, genomics and research in this field.

‘I will keep pushing for this to be given the focus and importance it deserves.’