A Cupar girl has been chosen to star as the face of an awards scheme which champions the courage of children with cancer.
Agatha King, who won a two-and-a-half year battle with leukaemia, appears on posters to be displayed in hospitals and shops across the UK in support of Cancer Research UK’s children and young people star award.
A video of her playing Christmas hit Jingle Bells is above this article.
The awards mark the strength shown by youngsters who have been diagnosed with the disease.
Nine-year-old Agatha, a pupil at St Columbas RC Primary in Cupar, is encouraging anyone who knows a young cancer patient to nominate them for the honour in the run up to Christmas.
Everyone nominated will receive a trophy, a £50 TK Maxx gift card, a t-shirt and a certificate signed by a host of famous faces, actress Emma Thompson, This Morning’s Dr Ranj and children’s entertainer Mister Maker.
Mum Karen, 43, said: “Agatha loves Christmas and we’re all really looking forward to celebrating together at home this year as a family.
“She sings in the school choir, has been learning to play the piano and is proud to be able to play Jingle Bells already.
“Agatha lost her hair during treatment for cancer but it’s grown back in so long now that she’s keen to get it cut and donate the hair to the Little Princess Trust so it can be made into a wig for another child getting treated right now for cancer.”
Around 140 children are diagnosed with cancer in Scotland every year and more than eight in 10 of them survive for at least five years.
Agatha was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in February 2015 when she was just four and Karen was 16 weeks pregnant.
Chicken pox put her in intensive care the following year, while a fungal infection meant she needed a daily IV infusion which took up to five hours a day for six months.
Midway through treatment she was invited to present a posie to the Queen at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 2016.
Agatha, who has a brother Bacchus, 7, and sister Meredith, 4, had her final chemotherapy treatment in July 2017, before travelling to London to the Cancer Research UK star party.
Karen added: “The Cancer Research UK star award Agatha received will always have pride of place on our mantlepiece.
“When we look at it we remember just how far Agatha has come.”
The young star awards are supported by TKMaxx, which has raised more than £34 million for research into children’s cancer.
To nominate a child for an award, visit cruk.org/childrenandyoungpeople
