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Lily-Mae Morrison with Mary Kennedy from RTE’s Nationwide during recent filming.

In the summer of 2012, a little girl from Clare Galway tugged on the heart strings of the nation, when thousands of people came together to release the Tiny Dancer single, to raise awareness about a very rare childhood cancer. While the story of five-year-old Lily-Mae Morrison is a familiar one in many homes, for the Quinns from Rockchapel and for Avondhu reporter Sandra Quinn, the story was a little closer to home.

"I remember the day I heard that Lily-Mae was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma and it was one of those horrible moments when I couldn't even imagine what my cousin Judy was going through," Sandra Quinn recalled.

Sandra is a second cousin of Lily-Mae and while she would have done many articles on sick children through the years as a reporter, she said that it is very different when that childhood cancer comes into your own life.

"You don't know how you will react to something like this until it happens and while we were all in shock at first, as the future looked bleak for Lily-Mae, I really admired how proactive her parents Judy and Leighton were and how quickly Judy's brother Paul set up a fundraising campaign and put the wheels in motion for the single," Sandra said.

Neuroblastoma is a cancer so rare that it only affects one in every 100,000 children in Ireland. So, for the family members, it was something new and horrific that had crept into their lives. Online searches held the answers to what it was, but also the horrifying prospects of what the cruel disease could bring with it.

"Seeing a child like Lily-Mae as sick as she was, was heartbreaking, as she was a bubbly, lively and theatrical child and when she's sick, she simply doesn't have the energy to be the little girl that she still is in her heart," Sandra explained. 

TREATMENT

Over the past few months, Judy and Leighton had their first trip to America, to avail of some cutting edge treatment for Lily-Mae and on Monday night, the nation was enthralled once again, as Nationwide brought us into their home to meet Lily-Mae and see how she's been since she went to America.

With not a care in the world, the footage shows the little girl and her brother, Evan happily playing with their new kittens and making rice krispie buns. For those who missed it, catch up on RTE Player.

Through the fantastic fundraising efforts of the Sunni Mae Trust, €420,000 has been raised and the goal is half a million euro.

To help Lily-Mae to rid Neuroblastoma from her tiny life and to fund research through the Neuroblastoma Society, donate online through www.idonate.ie/lily, visit www.thesunnimaetrust.ie or to organise a fundraiser, contact Paul Hayes on paulhaze@hotmail.com.

To keep up to date with news on Lily-Mae, 'like' the Tiny Dancer by A Song for Lily-Mae on Facebook.

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