Mum plans early birth so tragic Carly gets to meet baby

AN EXPECTANT mother plans to give birth to her new baby early so her dying daughter gets to meet her little brother or sister.

Vikki Harris, 24, has been watching helplessly as three-year-old daughter Carly slowly loses her fight against cancer. The youngster has a tumour behind her eye, and the disease has now spread throughout her body and cannot be treated. Doctors have given her just weeks to live.

Yesterday, Ms Harris said: "Carly thinks I've been pregnant for ever - she has been so excited about getting a new baby.

"She keeps saying she wants to see if it's a boy, which we don't know, but she thinks it is.

"Every moment with Carly counts now. I'm just trying to make absolutely sure she gets to share this one with us."

Carly, from Linwood in Renfrewshire, first fell ill two weeks before her second birthday, last June. She had become weak but a doctor said it was just a viral infection and gave her paracetamol. Within two weeks she was complaining of a sore stomach and Vikki and dad Mark Pearson, 25, rushed her to Ayr Hospital.

An ultrasound showed she had a tumour the size of an egg in her stomach.

Ms Harris said: "She was diagnosed with neuroblastoma stage four, which was the worst one.

"It was in her bones and wrapped round her muscles. We were so scared for her."

Carly spent four months in Yorkhill Sick Kids' Hospital, undergoing a stem cell transplant and painful experimental antibody treatment.

Her tumour was successfully shrunk and then removed. By March last year it seemed the worst of the cancer was behind her and plans were being made to enrol her in nursery.

Then the couple took Carly to the doctor last month with what they thought was conjuncitivitis. In fact, the cancer had returned and formed a tumour behind her left eye socket around her optic nerve.

Doctors said her body was too frail to take any more chemotherapy and there was nothing they could do.

Her parents have decided to keep Carly in the dark about her condition.

Ms Harris said: "Carly has absolutely no idea what is happening. I would never tell her.

"She's just going to the hospital every week, which she thinks is normal. Knowing you're going to die makes you die faster - I'm a strong believer in that.

"Instead we want her to have as much fun as possible so now every day is Carly's day. Whatever she wants to do, that's what we do."

Ms Harris, who had been due to give birth on 1 December, has arranged to be induced two weeks early. She plans to be home in two days to introduce Carly to her new sibling.

"I just hope she stays with us for as long as she can," Ms Harris said.