Northamptonshire firefighters take on the National Three Peaks Challenge to support 7-year-old girl with rare cancer

Eva Bailey was taken to Northampton General Hospital in March with pneumonia and underwent a routine X-ray before being diagnosed with ganglioneuroblastoma – a cancer of the nervous system.

Eva's mother, Helena, had to give up her job – with the support of her husband, Rob, a local firefighter - so she could care for their daughter and make sure she could attend all of her medical appointments.

A group of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service workers have since started a GoFundMe page to try and raise money to help the family.

Rob, 41, said: “There's been an unbelievable amount of support and donations from people, family, friends, and people that don't even know us. People are so generous and kind. I just feel massively grateful for all the support, and it's really appreciated.

“And the fire service has been amazing. Everyone on my watch and throughout the service has shown immense compassion and care for our family’s situation. I'm just really grateful that they're helping me to be able to be there for my wife as well because it's a really difficult time.”

Rob has been employed at the Daventry Fire Station since April, after completing his training at the Fire Service College in Cotswolds this year.

“I was away from my family from Monday to Friday for eight weeks, and she was quite poorly.

“She wasn't well for quite a lot of that. She had breathing issues. My wife kept taking her to the doctors while I was away,” said Rob.

After being transferred from Northampton to Nottingham, Eva had several scans and biopsies performed before starting her chemotherapy treatment.

“The NHS has been really, really good.

“They think that probably the tumour has been there for a long time, since she was really young. It came as a huge shock because she didn’t have any symptoms,” said Rob.

Eva is currently undergoing her chemotherapy treatment in Northampton General Hospital’s Disney ward.

Her final round of chemotherapy is scheduled to take place in August, and in September, she will have the tumour surgically removed.

“It's quite a complicated surgery because the tumour is growing into her spine. It’s going to be very difficult to take out,” said Rob.

Rob’s colleagues are trying to raise funds to support his family and allow them to celebrate Eva completing her chemotherapy treatment with a family holiday.

Daventry firefighter Seb Ward, 35, said: “We’re motivated. It's a horrible situation for anyone to be in, especially a young child. We know first-hand that his family has been struggling.

“For us, our job is about helping people, and we want to help a colleague and a friend.”

Luke Davies, 34, Harry Bartlett, 27, Duncan Timbs, 44, Seb, and Stuart Manning, 37, are stepping up to help the family by taking on the National Three Peaks Challenge on August 23.

Kieran Davies, 27, the Daventry firefighter who set up the family's GoFundMe page and is also taking on the challenge, said: “It's going to be a hard 24 hours for us.

“We're all training hard to try and make sure that we will be done in 24 hours.”

So far, at the time of writing, the page has raised nearly £5,000. Click here to donate.

Kieran said: “A family needs our support. We would want that support in the same way. If there's anything they can give, even if it's just sharing on social media to reach a wider audience, we know times are hard, but for Rob and his family, it's an extremely hard time.”